I think in this hobby if you can't afford some basic necessities, it might be best to wait it out until you can. This might not be the pasttime to start on a shoestring budget. If you skimp in the beginning, oftentimes you'll be paying for it later by being forced into buying what you should have in the first place.
Here's a basic example. Say for instance you invest in great lighting, but you don't get an RO/DI setup. Instead you decide to use water conditioner that's $10 a bottle at say, two bottles a month. Ammonia, nitrite and chloramines are no issue, just as the product promises. However phosphates from your tapwater aren't removed by this product, and lo and behold, after about six months you develop a tremendous hair algae problem.
You read around and out of desperation you purchase 30 snails for $60 bucks. Then you hear that there's this miracle liquid out there that will solve the problem for about $40 in treatments. There went $160 bucks that could've gone towards that RO/DI setup.
A phos reactor and really good protein skimmer can be $40 and $400 respectively. A decent RO/DI setup can be had for $169 if you shop around. If you purchase these three things in the very beginning, you're guaranteed an easier go at it. Another plus is the wonderful lack of expensive fires that require immediate extinguishing.
Patience is the key here, if you can scrape up some funds over time and THEN start this whole ball rolling, you'll be glad you did.
Good luck, ermano!
