spend some time searching the diy section here for refugiums (fuges) and read about how they work and how they are built.
the money you would save doing a diy fuge and sump would let you spend more money on your skimmer, lights, test kits, pumps, etc.
i could put together a filtration system that will beat out any wet dry filter parameter wise for around 150 dollars, and that is including lights for the fuge as well as pumps. if you didnt mind it being ugly, you could do it for around 75 dollars. and as i have no crafting skills and very limited tools, you can't be any worse off than me when it comes to doing diy projects.
for a really good source of information using very readily available things try to find a post by broomer5 and hit the link to his web page.
from personal experience, i was very afraid of doing my own sump and fuge, so i spent cash on a wet dry, even though dozens of people told me not to. after the modifications i have made to the system, i could have saved myself 200 dollars and bought an $18.00 rubbermaid container and been in the exact same place (no filter pad, no drip plate, no bioballs... all the things that a salesperson will take time to point out how important they are).
if you want to go this route, make a new thread called something like "building filtration from scratch" or something equally interesting and see what kind of help you can get to your questions. there are a ton of people here who would be overjoyed to share they diy experiences with you to help you along on your project.
and remember:
"Thou shalt not fear DIY"
by the way, WELCOME!
