I highly reccommend the Emily's Garden type set up. This is what I started hydro with. It was sooo easy, and the results were incredible for this old soil boy. You really cant beat DWC for ease of operation and fantastic results. You could also easily make these for much less money. I made a few for about $35, but you could get by on even less if you use one air stone and a smaller pump.

JT: city water will not hurt your plants as long as the chlorine is neutralized, the PH is correct and the PPM is not too high, and the tempurature is correct, and it is changed at least every two weeks or more. I don't see any reason for carbon.