Size may not matter; but have you ever seen a canoe go t osea before?

[HOB]

Each person will have different limitting factors when choosing the size of their first tank - mine was based on the space that I had the fact that I was renting when I started.  I believe that you should go as big as you can to decrease the number of upgrades thoughout your lifetime (because you will upgrade) costing you $$$ as most of your equipment will also have to be upgraded.  I don't think starting small just as a learning process or to get your feet wet works well in this hobby as a smaller tank is less forgiving (larger salinity and temperature swings as an example).  You can screw up more in a larger tank and get away with it while learning where as screwing up in a smaller tank could discourage you from continuing.

I originally started with a 65 gal back in 2001 - I wanted bigger but didn't have the space and I was living in a rental.  However, it was a good place to learn about what can go wrong with water.  Then I bought a place in 2003 and upgraded to a 300 gal to fit the length of the room perfectly by the entrance - it looked so nice!  Now I bought another place in 2008 and moved my 300 gal there but I think it looks awkward as I have a bit of room on one side of the railing so I'm looking to upgrade for the second time now to get a longer tank to fit the space.

I can say that the work involved from the 65 to the 300 isn't that much more as you learn to automate things.......sure you still have to clean more socks regularly and empty cups more often but you do the same work as before but to a larger scale (instead of a 5 gal bucket for water changes, you use those 15 gal green recycle bins).....but then when you enjoy something, it really isn't work.