Believe it or not, when you factor in the scale of the project, i don't have much $ into it. I limit my hobbies (both frogs and fish) to $60/week, no more. But so far i have into this: 4 eggcrates ($40), pvc pipe ($12), reptiflo 250 pump ($7), 2 blocks of coco fiber ($4), 1 bag peat moss ($3), 3 bottles titebond iii wood glue ($15), drylok hydraulic cement ($8), 2 tubes of silicone ($12, for gluing the land masses down), and finally 11 cans of right stuff ($55, i buy the 16 oz. cans).
So you see, if you just buy materials as you go, it's not too bad. And as far as filtration, after doing tanks for so long, this is a piece of cake.....lol
and the architect/contractor thing makes my wife laugh. She hears me yelling and arguing with myself (yes i do it out loud...lol) and just laughs away......lol