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There are a number of places where you can get your stock from. Rotorua is one of the beter priced suppliers. I have a fully stocked reef tank and live in wanga's. 90% of my tank has been sent to me, the rest I brought from up north. If you want details or options give me a pm

Another way of holding wood down is to drill and tap a couple of stainless steel bolts into the wood then silicone the heads of the bolts to the glass. Works a treat.

+ another. You couldnt be more clear than that.

DITTO!

That is one nice fat powder blue!!

Did you upgrade to a bigger tank? If so, did you increase the circulation? Like Reef said, they need plenty of flow. It helps remove the "waxy skin" of waste they produce. Could it be "fouling" in its own waste? I have a couple of sarcophytons, one was getting stung by a bubble coral. The stings would make it close up for awhile, and leave a bit of a mark, but no real damage.

Doesn't sound good. Could be many of reasons. Need to know more about your tank. Lighting, skimmer, carbon, water motion etc. Do you have alot of stony corals and just a couple of softies?

2000lph is not much for a large tank. What sort/size tank is it?

How long has it been shrinking? A few days? Closing up/shrinking is normal for a few days. Its one way of "cleaning" itself.

Freshwater fish is surrounded by water which is less dense than its body fluids. Due to osmosis, water is absorbed into the body and a fish must excrete water constantly so that it does not burst. The marine fish faces the opposite problem: it is constantly losing water to its surroundings so that it must drink copious amounts of water and excrete salts through the gills. So if there is a lower S.G, there is less energy loss to drinking and excretion of salts.

Skimmers work fine at S.G 1.018 to 1.020. Alot of "fish only" tanks run at 1.018 to 1.020. At that level there is less stress on the fish, as they are purging less salt from their bodies, there for "spending" less energy.

You would be better off using a sump/pump than a filter.

I think you will find most glaziers make tanks, it is part of their trade. Wanganui Glass maybe your best bet, but shop around. You will need 10mm glass tank for a height of 600mm, so it will not be cheap.

Have you got a quote off any of the local glaziers?

There many brands of silicone, you just have to use an acid curring type. Acid curring silicone has a strong smell, and cures real quick.

What type of water are you using for water changes? Water straight from the tap?

Selleys all clear? Any of the tanks split? You should use an acid curring silicone like Silaflex RTV, much stronger.

Good few hours in an open bucket with an air stone, or pass it through a carbon filter.

I'd say $35k to $40k, but depending on what is beening used for filtration/circulation, it could be more. Power cost, depending on lighting/circulation/temperature could be anywhere between $15 to $20 a day. It would have been great to see the "workings" of it.

Is the water aged, or straight from the tap. If straight from the tap the chlorine could be killing the bacteria, spiking the no3 level, but this would take a couple of days to elevate, not hours. The problem sounds like your new water, to spike so high just after a change of water.

Fantastic! Love to see it in a couple of years, when everything is bigger.

GAC is granular activated carbon. The cheaper stuff is likely to leach phosphate. If it doesnt say its phosphate free, it will contain it. You can get phosphate test kits, but the ones that give you an true reading are not cheap. You seem to be doing every thing right, water changes etc, but maybe your new water you are using contains high levels of nitrate/phosphate.

Nitrate might not be your only problem, but maybe phosphate. If you have been over feeding, you may have a build up of dissvolved organic matters, which will be releasing phosphate. Try using a good phosphate remover media in your filter and if you are using GAC, make sure its phosphate free.

Just make sure that if you are reducing the outlet of the solenoid, say from 1/2 to 1/4, that you keep the reduced length short as you can. Reducing the outlet can create back pressure on the valve, keeping it open even when the coil is de-energized. IMO, if you have the room you could just use a large bucket with a small pump, that plugs straight into a timer. This way you know how much water you are using and that it will aged and be at room temperature. You just have to keep the bucket filled.

Thats why you make it part of your maintenance programme. Just wind it up and down to operate it, say once a month.