I struggled with the same question... not a great fan of bare bottom (personal preference) so when preparing for set-up I was thinking I want kind of what you described. I don't know if I did right or wrong... for now tank has been running for 3 months... getting more and more stable as I learn and tweak some set up elements (temperature, lights, feeding, water change schedule, etc.)... but my discus seem to be very happy for now.
I don't think I'm necessarily super busy with maintenance but if you stay on the top of your schedule it is possible.
This was my choice and obviously arguable with experts (I'm by no means one)... but wanted to chime in and say it's possible and not really over-kill.
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