Well like I said the stand was made for lizards. It was designed for there tank. Using it for fish is a little bit of a pain.
Let me expain about the lizard tank, and you will understand why it's built the way it is. First I used a critter cage for the lizards. I'm not sure if you are familiar with that type of tank or not. The top is a screen that the whole one front side slides straight out to open the tank. This is why there is about 1" from the top of the tank to actual top of the cabinet, also for fresh air when I had the lizards.
The top of the cabinet is 3 pieces. The center piece has a finger hole that pops up to remove the center piece, and then sliding the screen top off the critter cage I could fully access the lizard tank. Worked great.
But then I decided to get fish. The problem I have with the way it's designed now is I have to take the center out, then both sides, move a light before I can open the glass to feed my fish. I have thought about making a new top, to have the top hinged on the back and have the lights attached to the hinged top. It would not be to terrible difficult to make a new top. The whole top section that the tank sits on is removeable. It is not secured to the base by glue, nails, or screws. I used dowel rods to make pins, to set the top onto the base.
Hopefully all this rambling explains it better, and not has you saying "What???" Here's some pictures of the top. All the wires bundled up in the back are the old lizard light wiring. I had a relay operate day lights, and the "moon glow" lights at night.
