Thanks for the great article. I love history, and it's interesting to see the origin of the powerhead, heater and other aquarium devices.
I remember the first time I saw a wet/dry or trickle filter and thinking it was the coolest contraption ever made for the hobby. I've been keeping freshwater fish since the 70s, but by the time I decided to start up my first reeftank in the late 90s, the wet/dry was seen as a nitrate factory. Today, I don't have a wet/dry, but I think the support equipment for my tank still looks like a Rube Goldberg device with the lights, calcium reactor, ph controller, sump refugium, peristaltic pump for water top-off, etc. My main concern is that people new to the hobby upon seeing all the equipment for a reeftank might feel a little bit intimidated and so overwhelmed that they don't start a tank at all.
Sometimes, with all the equipment futzing around I do with my tank, I have to tell myself to just sit down and enjoy the inhabitants of the tank. It was great to see my 18-month old son run to the side of the tank one morning and look into it with interest for a minute before running off to another endeavor.