I completely understand and I don't blame you. I saved for months before I bought my grow box which included the res, light, pumps, and all that together. But, I just ordered a better pump, lines, and 2 stones for my set up for like $15. And the res you can make yourself very cheap. Actually I am pretty sure there is a tutorial on GWE that shows you how to build everything on the cheap. But, right now at this very moment I agree that soil sounds much much easier lol, with a lot less setup and monitoring.