I like the idea of the filter medias(bricks, marine pure, etc) and what they bring to the table. Not having to worry about having enough surface area for bacteria is wonderful. The only issue is that these are no where near perfect and come at a cost. They all break down and have been linked to heavy metal contamination. I have experienced this first hand myself. The marine pure raised aluminum and the brightwell raised tin. I am currently using siporax and will try out matrix next if I do not like the results I am seeing. I use a skimmer in all of my tanks and filter floss. I use a refugium when I can but it is more for pH purposes than the nutrient uptake. I really don’t think there is a perfect answer here and it all comes down to how you choose to run your reef and what steps you implement to make it successful. One of the best tanks we ever had was a 3g full mixed reef. It was a small little petco tank with no filtration, simply a heater, return pump, and light. We did a Dixie cup water change a day.