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mushroom anemones

Full tank pics here

brittle stars, serpent stars and sea stars

You probably answered your own question when you mentioned fighting. Chromis tend to be fairly ruthless towards each other and it's very common to lose a few out of the group when one becomes dominant.

Skimmers are not really needed during cycling, and in fact don't work too well until there is an appreciable bioload. It's quite possible to do without one altogether and rely solely on water changes. I wouldn't worry about it till you have a few fish in there.

It wouldn't be overkill at all but you would probably be better off getting 2 smaller ones to create a more random flow pattern.

It might not be such a bad thing to have hermits that can 'clean up' fallen snails, especially when it's in places you can't reach or see yourself to turn them over.

Could it be brown jelly disease? I'm not able to tell from the pics, but it's a common way to lose an LPS after some sort of trauma.

Unless you plan to do a heavily stocked SPS tank you really shouldn't need anything other than regular water changes to maintain calcium.

Not necessarily, it would also depend on the efficiency of the skimmer and how heavily you want to stock the tank. I've always preferred the over-skimming approach personally, but there are many who say the opposite is better. If I remember correctly the Prizm ended up on a 15gal nano, and did...

It would waste a lot of energy to stay expanded all the time, especially when there isn't enough light to make it back.

I've used that skimmer on a 55gal and it barely coped so you would be better off looking at something rated for a larger tank. There seem to be a lot of skimmers about where you have to halve the rated capacity to get a more realistic estimate.

Don't drink DI water exclusively, it will upset your electrolyte balance.

I think it's meant to be used in a QT environment. Most inverts, and some fish, are highly sensitive to copper.

The tubes are quite delicate, a bit like rolled up paper, so best not to do anything if you can't move the entire rock.

The return from the Prizm is actually meant to be above water level.

Another vote for a flame hawkfish. They are very hardy, eat just about anything and great personalities. It's like having a puppy in your tank because they get all excited and wag their tails everytime you walk up.

Doing such a small water change doesn't stress the inverts, if anything the dilution of organics relieves stress.

Dang, and I thought marine fish were expensive!

Something like a little clown goby might be ok. I think 5gal would be more of a pico than a nano and they really are tricky at best. You will have to feed tiny amounts every other day and do very frequent water changes.

I think the fluctuations may be down to the small tank size also. It is very difficult to maintain stable conditions when you get under 10gal for marines. If there is any chance you could get a bigger tank it would greatly improve your chances of success. Are there any particular marine fish...