One thing I would not cheap out on is your lighting. It was kind of imprinted in my brain from all of my research...lol. I was going to go with the Marineland Reef capable for my 20gal, but I really wanted some control on how my lighting looked and pretty much be maintenance free once it is set up. I then found a great deal on my Mazarra LED's that are pretty neat. They will do the job for anything I would like to put in my tank, however I am going to use these for my sump in the future and get a Radion setup so I can really control the color scheme's in my tank.
I guess to make it simple just get one that is already built and ready to go, as I was in the same boat as you in Par values at certain depths and said screw it..lol
As for the DIY, there are some great looking setups that people have done and there is quite a lot of info on them, however they make me nervous as some look like a house fire waiting to happen...lol
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