@YvetteColomb I'm learning myself, my roommates know a fair amount that's helping, but not about cold water or axies (I do have a friend who knows planted tanks, at least!), and we're all a little stumped by this canopy issue.
We have a very well renowned aquatic shop nearby that we're stopping into to see if they can help, and I have an idea for a "last resort" to fix it up, but I still want to know what other options exist out there (and since it seems like odd-sized aquariums might not actually be that uncommon, it could be helpful to others)