the new stand almost done, the canopy will be next. made of white oak with the fish being hand carved from different wood for color, no stain, just clear varnish on them
I know how you feel...stand looks great...adds the personal touch..I just got thru making my stand with help from a friend.. took couple of months before final touches....I was wore out.I was able to find some Tropical Mahogany. Tank has been upgraded from a 110gal to this 240gal for about 6wks now so still have some fine tuning and ageing to do. Good luck with you project.
Hopefully you won't mind giving up your secret on how you carved those fish and what sort of wood you used.
My husband is an artist who has taken up woodworking. I showed him the picture of your stand and he would love to know how you did the fish carvings so that he might try to do something similar for our tank.