display tank, maximum size you're comfortable with

[Pier Pressure]

Great topic. After having two 150 gallon aquariums blow out their silicone eleven months apart, I have to say I am happy enough with the 28 gallon. If the entire thing explodes it will not dump more water on the floor than what we lost out of the 150s. See we got ones that we believe were too tall and the silicone just did not stand a chance. Took it back to the store the first time and they would not refund my cash, they only replaced the aquarium. When it exploded again, they did manage to give me 100% cash back.

We were home both times (thank God) and managed to save the fish and start siphoning from the top, and using buckets to empty the tanks before the water could hit the floor. About eight hours of maintenance each time, and that did not get the big tanks out of the basement and back into the truck to go back to the store. If we had not been home or realized what was happening so fast, our house which we own might have had to be declared a disaster area. I cannot imagine how awful that would have been if we were on holidays or at work.

So though I love the looks of the big tanks and love to provide fish with a ton of room to swim and live, we decided it is just not worth it. Still love the hobby - just going to keep going with a smaller tank!