Did you remove a bunch of plant species? Have you ever had a ground cover?
What you have there Joe are growing beautiful discus with the foundation for a lush planted environment. But I agree with your assessment, maybe put a few more somethings in there. I myself prefer the lush look. But discus look good in bare bottom tanks too, so it is hard to go wrong.
I think the high fin blue diamond is my favorite too.
LOL --- I give credit for it looking "nasty" due to a UV sterilizer, R/O water, one too many canister filters, an air powered vacuum and of course, the Vortex XL diatom filter...