This hobby is what you make of it.
VAlue in value out kind of thing.
The question you're asking is almost impossible to answer because everyone has a different system...
Talk to TomR, he's a guy who professes to be lazy in his retirement and enjoy his awesome tanks, as such he has set up a very simple but sophisticated ato and water changing system for his two massive tanks.
I think that his is a good example of how people can take some work and stress out if this hobby with a little ingenuity and some planning.
You could easily set up a tank that had near auto water changes, automatic freshwater top offs and even have it fed automatically.
I started in this hobby with no ato, no aquacontroller and no clue...
I was putting about an hour a day into tank maintenance overfeeding, constantly playing with my water params and that was with just a 72 and an aquapod.
Now I have several tanks, the largest of which is a 95 and I would say that I put in about an hour a week in maintenance.
It's cost me a little more money over the years but i have acquired a lot of pieces of equipment that help me.
Just do your research so you know what is involved and then have a look around at what this hobby has to make keeping a reef manageable for your own specific expectations.
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