How can I guarantee the coins left is the right 5k though? I can't see any options for coin control (picking sources of coins to send) or does the node just "see" the 5k and that's all that counts? Other MN coins I have allow you to lock out the coins for a node and only send from the pool of coins unrelated to your MN. It's not exactly a hardship to set up nodes just seems a little backwards compared to other coins.
doesnt matter. its not a dash clone and doesnt work like that. the balance needs to be more than 5k. that's it. any surplus can be sent to another address to stack for another node.
and personally i think that coin control is more complicated than how AKA does it. you just need multiple wallets for your MNs and spending.