Think I Messed Up -- Stand Height

I've built the 2x4 stand for my 90gal tank. I picked 29" as the height of the stand, but I'm thinking thats a mistake. I was looking at skimmer's and most are 22-24" tall. With the plywood base in place I'll have 24 3/4" inside the stand. Is that enough to remove the skimmer cup to empty? What height do you have inside your stand and how tall is your skimmer?

Heres a pic of what I have built. If I keep it this height I still need to add 2x4 cross bracing on the two platforms and add 2x4s infront of the vertical supports to make the front flat so I can face it and add additional support. I'm hoping this thing is going to be tall enough as I spent 2 hours building it between making sure it was square, the boards were the same length, and notching out the 2x4s. I'm just frustrated right now since I've never had a in sump skimmer it just didn't dawn on me how tall they were.

Alright I decided to fix it and made it 35" tall without the plywood. Gives me 30 3/4" inside. Heres some pics that show the progress. I added supports per what I said in the first post. I still need to finish cutting the plywood down. I don't think I'm going to use the foam as the plywood is solid enough and the stands level.

Had some time to work on the stand today. I added four 4" angle braces to help brace the stand from swaying. Figured it couldn't hurt. Two on the top back corners and two on the front side corners. You can kind of see them in the picture. I got the plywood cut and screwed down. I painted it with an exterior black paint for protection from spilled water. I made both side panels, below is a picture of one leaning up against the stand. These were tricky as I had to run them through twice on the table saw to cut the 3/16" grove for the floating panel. They are a 1/2" taller than the plywood on the stand to form a lip around the edge hiding the plywood.

The finished stand will have a simple design and be stained cherry. Basically those side panels are the complete product. They are higher than the plywood and will give it a finished look. I wanted the design to be simple as I'm trying to match my bar I built. The front will have doors similar to the side panels.

Almost done!! Got it nailed together and stained today. Going to put a coat of satin polyurethane on tomorrow morning and another coat towards lunch so it can be dry by that night. Then I can put the tank on and fill it up.

Anybody have any opinion on satin vs semi-gloss polyurethane? I don't want this overly shinny but want a small sheen so it doesn't have that dry look.

Yep theres no doors yet. I haven't even built them. Figured I get my tank up and running first. I just sold my 56gal and moved everything into a 30gal and 20gal tank. The 20gal will be my sump. I needed to move the 56gal tank anyway as the 90gal is going in its spot.