If you want to save some money, get your supplies from THATPETPLACE.COM, its cheaper than Petland, and it takes about a day or two to get here. I always get my supplies from them, and I buy more things from them than petland for the same amount of money.
On average, I always get the items the day after I put in my order, providing you do it early in the day...before 12pm I think. You'd be surprised how you will end saving.
The python is a sweet gizmo, makes life so much easier draining/cleaning. The only mod I did to my python was use a 3/4" goodyear rubber hose, sucker drainsa lot faster. If need be I can fill my tank in 1/4 of the time. I filled my 125g in 10 minutes while the python hose, took over 45 minutes. This was initially setting up the tank...fishless cycling.
I have 2 35 gallon sterilites containers that I will fill with water and let it age, also placed a heater in there to keep it as close as possible to the tank water. I haven't needed to change water yet, as the tank is in the 3rd week of cycling.
