cdmorrison01

I have a 40" stand and it is great, the only issue I can see is that doing maintenance is a real bit(h. If I remember, your tank is 27" so it would be even harder. Now imagine having to reach all the way to the back of that 36" deep monster. There is also a brace along the bottom, so you will be even higher than the 43" you are talking about. Are you going to use a canopy? If so, will the tank (60"+ at the top) look funny with a big tall canopy on top? Can you even get the top open to do any maintenance. Not trying to be a debbie downer, but these are all issues I am having with mine. Don't get me wrong, I would never do a stand shorter than 40" again, just know that there are a lot of other considerations. I was at the LFS this weekend and it made my back hurt to have to hunch down to look at the frags in a standard height tank. I will be following your build, gotta love those deep tanks.

It's great to get some feedback from someone that has a tall stand. I have read that maintenance is tough on DD tanks. As far as the aesthetics of a tall stand/canopy, I live near a LFS here in fl called "world wide corals", they have some pretty tall stands and canopy's and they are awesome. BTW, if you're ever in orlando, stop by that place. Probably one of the nicest stores I have ever been to. Anyway, I plan on eventually building a canopy as well, but for now I will use a light fixture. My main concern was the stand/tank being too top heavy. It is braced well and I used 2x6's to help me sleep better at night. Thanks again for the feed back! Like I said, pics will come asap.
Austin: BTW, were you ever in the Marines?

I had my 29g on a 42" stand and loved it. I hated the stock stand that came with my 55g that required me to bend down anytime I wanted to look in it. My current reef is on a 36" stand, but my tank is 30" tall. The angled tank is on a shorter stand, but the front panel is angled to allow me to gaze down and view it.

Grabbing a chair or bench to work on the tank is what you'll want to do, but since you don't work on the tank all the time, I don't see the issue. Even if you had to tinker for 10 minutes daily, that leaves you with 23 hours and 50 minutes of just viewing it at a higher height. Go with your taller stand.

Depends, are you planning to put a couch in front of it?
the lower stock stands are nice if the tank will be viewed sitting most of the time.

No couch. I kinda had a problem finding a place for this DD in my new house. The dimensions make it rather difficult to place.