I don't know what your problem is, but if I decide to flame you, you'll know it. I came to this discussion to add what I felt was a perspective that had obviously been missing - that being nitrate values aren't the only thing to consider when it comes to water quality, and/or water changes.
If you feel that after keeping fish for less then 3 years, that you know more on this subject than I do, and that my previous comments are somehow wrong, then please feel free to enlighten me as to exactly what I am "wrong" about. Otherwise .....
As far as maintenance costs ........
I've owned my own home, and have being paying for water usage for 30+ years. I also live in a part of the world where for 6 months of the year the water runs out of the tap at approx 50F, which is approx 30 degrees cooler than my tanks, and all of my tanks are located in the basement portion of our home, so overall power consumption just for heating the water is also an issue.
In a perfect world, where money grows on trees, I'd have all of my tanks on a flow through system where 100% of the water was turned over every 24 hrs. But obviously for most of us, including myself, this isn't a perfect world.
For myself, fishkeeping is a thing of discipline, as in only keeping what I can personally maintain long term in what I consider a very healthy environment. One being a large enough glass box for the species & numbers that I keep, and secondly keeping the water quality as pristine as humanly possible.
