I agree with your comment regarding tubing, that's why I do have a one foot piece between the main plumbing to the tank and the true union (flexibility). Also, in case of failure, I can easily go the rest of the way with tubing while keeping the clean look of the hard plumbing. I think I found a happy medium for myself with that set up. Hopefully it works...
I will post more pictures next weekend. LOL maybe I'll be at 50% by then (of course that assumes ordering the live rock early this week and the state of the live rock when it gets here). I may have the spray bars in place. At least the water should be flowing by then.