I completely agree, stability is key for long term health. But when there is plenty of practical evidence showing that very large to 100% water changes harm nothing and can allow systems to maintain stocking, feeding, and dosing regiments that wouldn't otherwise be possible and still have award worthy coral growth and healthy fish, I think that should be pointed out, especially when someone is new to the hobby and is worried about moving a tank.
Anyway this is all testable. I'm doing a 100% water change on my pico in about 5 minutes. Both the bag of ceramic bio-rings in the back chamber, the rock pyre, and all the corals will be completely exposed to air for about 5 minutes. I'll do that water change, then target feed each one of my corals with meaty foods, which is about the maximum organic input this tank ever receives. I normally wait a couple of days to feed them to get the most out of my low N and P change water and discourage algae, but for this experiment I'll feed them as soon as they re-inflate. I'll test ammonia levels every day for the next week. If I get a detectable reading, I will post it in that tank's build thread. If not, I'm going to continue to operate under the assumption that any 'threat' posed by large to 100% water changes (when done right) is largely superstition.
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