Yes a budget on hardware works, introduces a challenge and is easily monitored and controlled. If I thought a livestock budget would actually work I would be all for it, problem is there are too many variables and to me it just seems more fair and easier to simply eliminate it. The worst case is someone will spend a ridiculous amount of money on super rare livestock but the majority of people don't like or notice the rare stuff anyway so I see no advantage. You'll also see much more variety in livestock as much more freedom will be available.
My recommendations are:
- Hardware - limited budget
- Livestock - unlimited budget
- Total system volume - limited to 20 gallons or whatever most would prefer
- 1 month preparation build time
- 3-6 months additional contest time, again whatever most prefer
- People wanting extra build time can use addition contest time (no restriction on when tank has to be wet)
- Absolutely no changes within last month (proves sustainability)
We also didn't get too many people in the last contest so multiple categories, which although would be nice, probably won't really work. The more people actually competing against each other the better.