We just got the tank in today and moved it into it's final position. It's definitely an impressive tank, I'm sure John will have a bunch of photos up soon!
The bubble magus doser would be easier to program IMO. You basically set the amount to dose daily in ml and if you want it dosed hourly or very other hour. Done. With the brs doser you would have to program the digital timer for a set amount of time(in minutes) to achieve the amount you want...
Check out East Bay Koi in Oakland when you're in the area. The owner is a close friend of mine and they specialize in high end koi which they import from Japan themselves. Tell them I sent you.
At the store we use "pipe dope" on all the threaded connections. It is way more fool proof than teflon tape BUT it can get messy, I mean real messy. They have different ones out there but use one that is OK for potable water and you should be fine.
Stick a screwdriver up in between the bucket and lid and pry a little bit. You will hear air sucking in when you pry the seal a bit and you'll be able to open it by hand after that. I've probably opened 200 buckets this way :)
I think what happens is that during shipping they stack these...
I once stayed at "THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay" and my room window had a nice view of the strip. There is a resturant/club at the top that you could visit and take some pics. Similar to this.
For setting custom white balance, a neutral gray should give better results. You could print one out like Gresham or you could go to a home improvement store or paint store and grab one of their gray paint samples.