It's not that much of a chore but like anything else, if a job is worth doing it's worth doing properly. My set up is a little different as the "trickle" part is on top of the tank so also out of sight. I scrubbed everything today and including taking it all apart, scrubbing it clean and putting it back together took an hour. I would put some photos up but haven't worked out how yet!!
There's no worries of mine drying out. I have to be careful I don't replace too much water when doing a water change because when I turn the pumps off (for cleaning) the water goes back into the tank and on one occasion it did overflow!!! There is about 3 inches of water in the tray at any one time. You can't see much in my photo as I use alot of wool and polyfilters to help reduce the noise (makes you need the loo if you don't!!) as well as all the other benefits of wool etc.