How often do you do water changes?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I like doing the one big water change every 3 months compared to the small water changes every 2 weeks or monthly. Last water change was late September, then I just did a huge one this weekend. Originally planned on doing 90g on a 210g reef, by draining water from the fowlr, siphoning reefwater into the fowlr & then topping up the reef with new water. Unfortunately, I miscalculated & ended up draining too much out of the fowlr which caused me to have a near empty sump so I had to make up another 40 gallons for the reef. So, in total, just did a 130g water change on the 210g reef with 75g sump (total water volume minus LR & LS etc. is probably 180-190g).

On the other hand, I run a RS250 skimmer, Phosban reactor, semi-remote deep sand bed, micron sock, and grow lots of macroalgae in the refugium/sump so the water quality was still surprisingly good despite a long time between water changes and a high bioload/feeding regimen. The corals look the same (very good) before & after the water change, whereas in the past, usually they look a lot happier after a water change. Hmmmmm.

I'm not recommending this water change schedule for everybody, just posting up what works for me.

Anthony