55g tank project

I posted a picture of this tank in the tank profiles, but it also needs some recognition here as well. I purchased the tank online and all I got for my $40.00 was the tank, gravel, power filter missing part of the inlet tube, and the lids which one had the glass and fram broken, so i knocked out the broken glass and glued the fram back together then reinstalled new glass. When I brought it home both lights worked, but after setting up the tank one of the lights would not work. After trying several differant things i determined it must be the ballest. So here i am with a tank that only has part of a filter and one working light. Heres wher the do it yourself comes into play. I needed a stand and did'nt have anything large enough, so I took a small but very stand and custom built a table top to attach to it. the stand is now stong enough to hold the tank and then some. I had some left over materials so i built a night stand to match the tank stand I am still working on th night stand which still needs sanding and stain. Now I have a tank on a stand so I go to work on constructing an inlet tube for the filter. I took some pieces of new PVC pipe and made my ghetto inlet. It looks funky but works like a charm. Getting the original black tube on the filter took some thinking on how to attach it to the PVC pipe since the origenal pipe slip fit together. My solution was to heat the black pipe with boiling water to soften it then I merely forcefully threaded it into the PVC fitting, it has a super tight fit with no leaks and I can take it back apart if i need to. So now I have a tank filled with gravel, water, and a working filter. I already had a heater laying around so that was'nt any problem. Now I have to figure out wwhat to do about lighting since I only have one working light. I went out into my shop and found a working single tube 36" light fixture and some 1/4" cedar toung and grove siding left over from another project so I bulit the best looking light hood I could. I was hendered by the physicle size of the light compared to the wood i was using because i did not want the light to touch the top of the tank nor over heat. I drilled holes in the top of the canopy to release heat and made sure air could get under it for proper air circulation. After I was done and I had let the tank run for over a week after adding Bio start. Now I have all the fish and plants acclimated into it and all is well.
I think it looks pretty good even with Mickey Mouse down in the corner. With Grandchildren you need to add a little wimsy for their sake. So what does everybody think of it. I dont get my feelings hurt so give me your best shot.

i will have to remember that one...boiling water to heat the tubing.i dont know why i never thought of that. and building your own light housing is always satisfying as custom usualy works out rather well.so it sounds like you are running two bulbs on this tank?so now you can make the plants happier did you add a reflector or did you pain the insides white?