[BMW Rider]

For me, the complexity is for simplicity. I love my tanks, but I don't want to be tied down by them, having to be continously checking this, adding that, feeding, testing, etc. I do usually fiddle and tweak daily, plus I feed daily some frozen food and nori. Additional twice daily feedings are done with a feeder. That way the fish are used to dry food and I can set the feeder for a bit more and all is good for an extended absence. Same goes for the automation, the tank runs pretty stable without any additives needed except on rare occasions, so it will be fine if I'm not there for a week or more. There's enough top off water to get through at least a week. I can add a larger auxilliary resevoir for longer trips. I also have power backups for the critical return pumps. I still have someone come by and make sure all is running a few times if I'm away fro more than a couple of days, but I know that barring disaster, the tanks will survive just fine without me while I'm away. They might be a bit gross with algae when I return, but that is a minor thing to cleanup again.

I don't buy the fancy name brand equipment, some of it is just way to pricey for me. I like to DIY when I can, but some things I've found are jsut too much work to DIY and make it operate reliably. For those I have bought premade, typically a decent product, but not the real high end stuff. Other things, like my CA reactor have been marvelous DIY successes for much less than the cost of buying.

I also agree with the concept that by making the routine chores less demanding there's more time to do other chores. Of course it can also lead to complacency which is something I've found myself falling to once in a while when other hobbies dominate my attention. Generally though, it just makes the reefing more enjoyable and less frustrating for me.