[Myka]

I had a similar dilemma. I made my stand short (28"). I made the floor of the stand lower than yours instead of making it raised the bottom is just plywood, so the skimmer and the sump sit only a 1/2" off the carpet (on the plywood bottom). Then I used a 15g for a sump which is only 12" tall. This gives me lots of room to get in there, and is just barely big enough for backflow from the pipes. I can fully remove my EuroReef RS-180 from the sump if I want to without tearing the whole thing apart.