I used to have an 180G tank, mainly SPS and a few LPS. It was well stock with fishes and i was doing no water change. Had a big skimmer on that tank, a small refugium and all seem to be doing fine. The tank was up for 2 years, done 1 water change during those 2 years. All the fishes was healthy and fat. The corals was growing fast looks ok too! In the end of the 2 years, i started having a really big problem with algea! None of my snails would eat it and the spreading time was crazy fast! I tried to get rid of that algea with no success, my nitrate level was high and could not go down with even all the water changes and the AZ No3 that i bought did nothing!
Now having my new tank up and running, i learned something from my previous tank. Doing water changes not also bring back some elements, its also a prevention. The colors of the corals also seem more vibrant and the polyps extention after each water change is impressive! A tank could survive without water change, but after a while, you might come by some problem and then, that is really hard to get out of it.
Please note this is my personal opinion on my own experience 
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420G Front Starfire Glass Reef Tank, 150G Costum made Sump, Sifligoi 3x400W + ACLS Unit, 2xH&S A200-2x1260, Schuran Jetstream 2 Ca reactor, 4xVortech pump, 3xBattery Back Up, 4xWavy Sea+, Prolifux Wireless Controlleur, Oceans Motions 4 Ways, Seachem Pinnacle 200GPD RO/Di
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