This is a really old full tank shot to show the canopy and stand. Its before corals and more LR.
I found the stand at a Goodwill for $6. The doors were falling off and it looked like crap, but new hinges and some paint and it looks great.
I made the canopy with my grandpa's help (and huge shop with every tool imaginable!).
The stand and canopy were painted with shellac primer and oil based parker paint. My grandmother helped pick out the color and I think it turned out nicely.
Here a night shot of the inside of the canopy so you can see what I did for lighting. I have a 250w SE Hamilton + evc eballast, 2x13w PC true actinic 03, 1x20w daylight t12. The actinics come on, then 2 hours later the daylight bulb comes on, then another 2 hours the halide comes on and the flourescents shut off, until night, when the process reverses. The flourescents make no noticable difference in the tank when the halide is one... which is what I wanted, just something to view the tank longer.
Here is a picture of inside the stand. Sump is a standard 10g. The overflow enters on the skimmer side. Skimmer is a Coralife ss65 (works really well for me now, but took a long time to dial in). The water level in the sump is a bit high in this picture because I had just shut the pump off.
The main heater is actually in the big section submerged. The crappy thing hanging on the side is just there because the tank was getting too cold at night. The black thing in the center is a HOB penguin 170 filter to run carbon (no bio wheel). You can see my DIY auto top off float switch. I got the switch from ebay, relay from radio shack, used an old 9v ac transformer, and ran 10 foot vinyl tube to a 10 gallon rubbermaid tub with a power head.
Livestock includes:
-Maroon clown
-Pygmy Angel (purple with yellow face, 1" long)
-6 line wrasee
-emerald crab
-hermits and snails
They all seem to be getting along ok!
Corals (I don't know names):
-Two types of montis
-brown digitata
-blueish acropora
-two other green / yellow colored sps.
-green star polyp.
The corals were just added, and I completely suck at tanking tank shots with a my digital camera, so I don't have any good full tank shots that will make your wife want to start up yours again, haha.
