Tell me if this is a good idea

For whatever reason and the things that you have going on in your life. My advice is go give up the system and come back to the hobby when you have the time and passion.

It does not take a a lot of money to run a simple small system. It can be dominated by soft corals and be beautiful.

Going with a smaller tank is only grasping at straws, they are harder to maintain and if for whatever reason you are having problems doing the routine and required maintance it will crash.

You can still be involved in this wonderful hobby without a tank running. Just take a breather and come back when the time if right.

 

Definetely think about this ... before I got my 110g I had a 29g Nano and it needed much much more maintenance. If you are not able or willing to spend the time or money on this hobby, then re-think. Just my opinion.

 

I agree. Keep your setup currently and add to it as you can. Craigslist is awesome! And with that small of a tank you don't even need a skimmer. A weekly/bi-weekly WC would be fine and all you need to do to keep the SG steady is top off your water everyday.

As far as filtration, you don't even need a great filter either. Just get a good clean up crew, and lots of LR for bio filtration. If we knew your specs we could recommend some cheap alternatives to starting a new tank.

In the end, a weekly/bi-weekly WC will be your best friend.

 

Smaller tanks require more time spent, not less. If you don't have the time to keep a 29g going correctly, you're not going to have the time to keep a 14g going, regardless of the state of the equipment involved. I spent way more time on my 3g and my 10g than on my 38g. If it seems too much like work to you, my advice is to just get out of reef altogether.

 

You have time to do a water change every day but you don't have time for a top off every day?

Switch to fresh water. It takes less time, there isn't really any expensive equipment to buy and you can use dechlorinated tap water for top offs. Also if you don't keep up on top offs your live stock doesn't die.