Everyone's tanks look amazing! They put mine to shame, but they are turtle tanks, so they are setup for ease of cleaning. I'll edit this post later and get my pix up when I get home from work.
I also emailed my wife this thread to give her some ideas. I'm getting her 55 gallon going in her office, it's just got water and a filter with no media. I'm going to get some sand and the media either today or tomorrow.