I would probably be in as long as it DOES have a budget and is say 30G and under. Otherwise its kind of pointless to have a contest with no rules, especially with no budget. And as long as I can build my own tank
I think something like a month to prepare equipment and then a few months to add livestock at which point adding livestock/equipment is done and then a few more months to mature as is. Kind of like a 'trade' deadline for pro sports where after a certain point, you are competing with what you have got and no more added. Then people can actually focus on their livestock instead of changing the tank constantly. So maybe 6 months...1 month prep, 2 months of stocking and then 3 months to mature as is. Personally I would like to see two deadlines...one at a month in where no more equipment is to be added (unless something breaks and it can be replaced with the SAME thing) and then one two months later where no more livestock is added (even if something dies as that is part of the contest or the rule could be that you can replace it with the SAME species, either way would work).
We need to make these things a challenge rather than just another tank build.
And maybe a theme HAS to be given/explained from the start and stuck to or you loose points. See who can actually make an idea come to life kind of thing.
I just think the less amount of rules you have for these things, the more boring the contest gets. If there are no rules other than tank size, then its not a contest really. Its just another TOTM kind of thing. Whats the point?