After working on the system, I knew that the stand needed to be replaced. It was never intended to be permanent but it started to show signs of wear after the weight of the tank and I figured, the sooner the better in replacing it.

Since I had purchased a standard 55g canopy, I went back to the same LFS and purchased the matching stand. I then paid a visit to my neighborhood hardware store and purchased a shitload of that fancy stone-esque textured black spray paint. I know it sounds cheesy but it really does look good. And I preceeded to tear down the canopy and stand and put a nice black finish on them.

Here I have the stand and canopy set up in the workshop being painted. Since I already installed the lighting system, I carefully covered the reflector and removed the icecap fans prior to doing the paint job.

Here is the completed stand in the living room ready to receive the tank.

Now comes the hard part. I have to drain the already-cycled tank and move it - no small feat!

Here a friend of mine holds the hose while we drain the tank. Of course the only way to do this is at 2:00am with me and my other insomniac friends who lurk while the rest of you are sleeping. What do we do while the rest of you have visions of sugar plums dancing in your heads? We move fish tanks... MUHAHAHAHAHA!

I purchased this nifty (overpriced) pump from Lowes which really made the water transfer pretty easy.

Here's the tank after we moved it to the new stand.

And now let's install the newly-painted canopy:

And the finished product!

Here's a picture of some coral and cactus calurpa that was growing on an aquacultured rock I purchased. It seems to be doing very well with the new setup!

And here's my first piece of store-bought coral: a basic green striped mushroom: