its going to be a nice setup! keep the pics coming!

Here is a bit of a conceptual drawing as to what the picture frame side of the tank will look like. The top panel of the picture frame will be hinged so that I can feed/aquascape/access from this side.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1237913131


Here is what the tank will look like from top view. I'm not sure what to do with the stand/canopy yet. Most likely the stand will come 8" past the tank on both sides to cover the overflow box and also cover plumbing so that I can run plumbing up the tank opposite side of the overflow. So it will now become a 2 side viewable tank. My wife thought that having the stand semetrical on both sides would look better. This gives me more options anyway.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1237913383

Here's another view from my Den side. As you can see, 7" of the tank is actually resting on the wall itself. So only 17" of the tank will stick out into the Den side.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1237913610

There's a little bit more progress on my tank. Thanks to a fellow Canreef member, I traded some 1/4" glass for 3/8" scrap glass so that I can make my overflow box. Maybe that will happen this weekend, the glass needs to be cleaned thoroughly though.

Harvey came over tonight and sprayed water for me while I cut the center brace of my tank. I'm quite pleased with the results, it needs some sanding and it should be pretty. Thanks Harv.

Here are the pictures of final product. Yeah, now we can have more light penetration into the tank.

I am now debating whether to take all the trim off of the whole tank or to leave it on. Any suggestions? The advantage of taking all the black plastic trim off is that my moulding can be flush to the tank itself and the canopy can be flush to the tank. What do you think?

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1238033972

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1238034051

What type of bit did you use to cut out your brace?

I used a regular glass hole saw for the corners and a grinder for the straight edges with a diamond blade. Did the same for my overflow slot.

Nice, I was curious myself how you cut the overflow. Did you use a continuous rim diamond blade?

I'm not sure if it was "continuous". It was smooth, $9.99 from Home Depot and it was for tile/marble. I just picked the thinnest one there was. I wasn't too concerned because worst case scenario, I break the brace and have to rip all the trim and other bracing off and Eurobrace it. But that would have been really time consuming and costly. I was worried about possible vibration while cutting though, but I had it supported quite well underneath with a cardboard box.

How long did it take the cut the overflow and the brace like that?

The brace only took me about 20 mins last night (holes were drilled already).

The overflow took about 5 mins. It goes really quick. I wore safetly glasses, full long sleeves with my neck covered (I forgot to wear gloves....but I was okay). I recommend wearing gloves. I wore gloves when I did my overflow.

I wish I could of used some sort of guide though because I did everything free hand. Oh well, the brace is never seen anyway...

Some people think that it was super risky of me cutting that brace, but I still think it's got tons of strength to it....what do you think?