The Glasscages oak canopy for a 240G long tank.

The canopy is similarly functional to the stand, but also not of a Mercedes-Benz type of quality. The top consists of a sheet of ¼" plywood, which means it is not really 100% even. It's good enough even for my living room, and even my wife, who is usually a stickler for these sorts of things, has never noticed a problem - otherwise I would have heard about it! However, if you are planning to play billiards on top of the canopy it's going to be a disaster! The canopy is open towards the back which allows for great air circulation. The front has two doors which, similar to the stand doors, are not hinged but can be removed from the canopy when pulled upwards. Again, this is probably a little less convenient than a hinged door, but in my case it keeps the kids out. Having the canopy to be front opening rather than top opening is a great idea, especially for a comparatively high tank like mine. With canopy and all, the setup stands 68" tall, and accessing it through the top of the canopy would require a ladder even for a 6' guy like myself. The combination of the front opening canopy and the hinged glass tops has allowed me to perform all necessary maintenance on the tank while leaving the canopy in place ever since setting the tank up about 2 years ago. The canopy is very light, and can easily be carried by one person, but due to its size, it is still difficult to take off, and being able to leave it on the tank at all times is a great plus.

Like the stand, the Glasscages canopy comes unstained, and I used the same varnish as for the stand to finish the outside of the canopy (clear semi-gloss Helmsman Spar Urethane made by Minwax). For the inside I used a high-gloss, oil-based white paint. The guys at my local hardware store recommended Rust Oleum Protective Enamel, and it's done a great job. I chose the high gloss white to get as much light reflected from the inside of the canopy as possible.

Instructions how to built a very similar canopy can be found here.