It's not bad at all. If you look at the pics of the tanks you can see a filter on the top and there is a water pump in each of the bottom tanks. I just take about 75% of the water in the top tanks that's enough to keep my water parameters great. I check the params twice a week. It takes about 2 hours to clean and change the water. Plus I have a sink that is not far from the tanks with a python water changer