I agree. Some of the premise is faulty to begin with (IMO) and the size of the system is note-worthy. A 1000G tank that's heavily planted, but lightly stocked could indeed be kept without much maintenance.
I would suggest a canister. I have a Fluval FX5 on my 125, and have no complaints.
There are several other brands available. I am sure there will be other suggestions.
I should mention that I do not have goldfish though, but I do know they are poop machines.
Not sure about live plants with goldfish, but my Nitrate level is maintained at areound 10 PPM with live plants and water changes. The ammonia level should be controlled by the bacterial filtration provided by bacteria living primarly in your filter.
Water changes will control your nitrate, that or live plants, not the filter.
The premise is faulty in that it equates a tank with the way nature filters, but it says nothing about heavy planting(since most of the fish in question would destroy them) or light stocking. I was only linking for the sand bed, though if you look on and see the comments, it started a lively discussion, involving, also, John PTC, owner of a DIY 10,000 gallon tank with an arapima and others inside.
To reduce nitrates you could also just link up a sump with plants.
Is there a better way than doing 30+g water changes for nitrate/ammonia control?
Sorry but i guess i confused everyone here. I was asking what the best filtration would be for a large tank (90g+), and if there was a better way of doing the water changes than hauling out 30+ g of water in buckets and replacing it the same way. Would you use hoses, etc? HOW was the question, not whether w/c's needed doing or not.
Now that makes me wonder - we have several gravel vacs with the suction creator already - and can get more tubing in longer lengths readily enough. But how do they refill the tank with it? It doesn't show that part, other than showing it hooked up? to the sink - do they come with a attachment for the sink? And if so, then a hose end attachment fitted to a longer tube would fix my problem. I can hook up a hose attachment to my sink now. Is that all i needed?