Well said there Brad
IMO water changes are a must too, I had a fully stocked reef tank for over ten years and not that I am boasting or anything but the reef was very successful. I owe most of that success to two things one being water changes and two education. The hobby of reef keeping
IS rocket science, and not a plug and play venture. Spending hundreds of hours reading various books and articles and talking with fellow hobbyist on boards and in person was a major reason I believe my tank did so well. The water changes were the second ingredient to my success, I think in just under 11 years I could count on one hand how many month water changes I had missed. I never had to add supplements because of this until the last two years until I made the switch to sps corals, this is when I had to dose calcium as the amount of corals I had effected the balance of the system even with my regular water changes, I could not retain the calcium levels within the system. During the last year while the tank was running, my interest and focuses changed which led to less water changes and simply less attention with the tank, this started to cause problems such as algae troubles and fish and coral deaths.
Now after a year off I have set up a small fowlr tank which is doing really well, which I can say water changes and knowledge are the two main factors for things doing so well.
Finally, if a natural reef gets flushed with thousands of gallons of water every second of the day and night, I believe we owe it to the animals that we keep in our systems to provide them with a clean and stable environment as best as we can