Recent content by Atari

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.