i concur...and you know exactly where i'm coming from. i like our setups to look natural, and besides, one can always add a few polyps or shrooms to round out the tank without going for a true full-blown reef. in fact, we'll be adding some zoas and shrooms to the 60 gal soon.
one of my big reasons for utilizing live macro is the boost it gives in water quality, and with the fish we keep, that makes a big difference. also, it gives the tank some nice color and movement.
actually, Bill knows how i feel about having "technology" (such as PH's, heaters, skimmers, etc.) or anything fake showing in our DT's unless there's a darned good reason for it. we take great pains to avoid them when designing a system (besides adding to the water volume, this is what sumps are for). yes, in this respect, i'm a bit of a "tank nazi", but it's self-imposed, and i only push the issue with myself.
you'll learn that there are 1000 ways to accomplish most things in this hobby, and it's up to the aquarist to run with what works for them.
just to show you what's possible, here are 3 iterations of the same tank:
current version (still a WIP):
previous version:
original version:
