Well, your question really depends on a few more things than what you've listed.
Are you getting it custom built or will it be a standard tank?
If custom, then you are better off looking at increasing the depth of the tank (for both looks and ease of work-ability) than the height as the lighting becomes a bigger problem for the fuzzy sticks when you only use T5s and go higher.
Given that you live in Calgary and are doing this on a tight budget, take a look at Bow valley or Source Aquatics and see what they may have available to you. It might give you some more ideas than what you've looked at already.
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Mark...
290g Peninsula Display, 425g total volume. Setup Jan 2013.
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