you do realize that the fluval chi in my picture ran me around triple of what your quote for a low end tank is, right? I wonder why you assume that i can't afford a junky looking $10 tank when i have a $75 tank in the picture (tank alone ran me $75 at a LFS)
the problem with "buy the biggest tank you can afford, you need a bigger tank blah blah blah"
is that
I can easily afford to purchase the $000 150 gallon stand aquarium, however they look cheap and cheesey. The cabinets are made out of pressed fiber board, and the style of the actual stands that are incorporated into the tank just...ruin whatever you have in the tank. might as well park an el camino on your lawn and let it rust at that point.
i have never seen a 10 gallon tank that looked good.
hagen's Fluval division is a decent brand, fairly priced with moderately high end looking tanks, however the 6.5 gallon chi, and the 12 gallon edge look too tall for the base.
all the 10 gallon tanks i see are the ugly, and cheap trashy looking ones with a black plastic trim, and sloppy sealing work.
these little $10 ten gallon tanks you buy at the pet store may work well for a 13-17 year teenage child, however i don't want these low end tanks bringing down the aesthetic value of my home.
it's even worse when people hang "grow lights" purchased from hydroponic marijuana growing stores over them.
the nano-cubes from jbj look passable but are acrylic. and just moderately better than the cheapo big box store tank.
My qualms with this one is the out dated forum fad inspired back. couple years ago when people spray painted the back of their cheap aquariums to enhance the "visual appeal" of their tanks.
reminds me of the cheap stickers they sell at petstores with bamboo patterns, you're supposed to cut and slap on your fish tank so it has a "cool background".
another negative aspect of the frame is that, it's setup for a nano-cube/salt water setup. that and the stand included looks worse than most qal-mart furniture/ walmart blu-ray movie racks .