It depends on the level of engagement that you want to have with the hobby, like all hobbies. Training for a 5k is different from training to run a marathon. The fancy shoes, camel packs, moisture wicking clothes, and supplements are all nice and can probably help with the 5k, but you'd have a much harder time justifying them for the 5k than for the marathon. If you're setting up the Fluval 13.5 build for a clown and some softies, you probably can be very successful with a low tech build, an algae scraper, and water change discipline. To set up a monster SPS tank with sand sifting gobies, anthias, or butterflies you'll need that aggressive nutrient export management, dosing, and rigorous feeding regimens. Taking over all that tech to the Fluval 13.5 would be overcomplicating things, to a bizarre degree, but the flipside of that coin is that taking over the Fluval methodology to the monster tank overcomplicates the monster tank when it comes to maintenance and feeding.
Much more than in the freshwater hobby, I think the "survive" end of the "thrive, not survive" spectrum is much more well understood/defined in the marine world. What is needed to "thrive" still seems a bit more ambiguous, especially since there seems to be a alot more options on how to get there. Because of this, it's easy for a rookie reefer/proverbial 5k runner to fall into the tech creep trap (hey, that's me!) and over complicate things, browsing the successes of the expert reefers/proverbial marathon runners. We all want to succeed! But we go overboard trying sometimes when we don't have the experience (or level-headedness) to know better outweighing the wallet-crushing dreams of replicating pro success.
