I have a canister, I am regretting it. I will be eventually switching over to a sump/refugium. I have read from a lot of people saying that the canister filters are huge nitrate factories, but if you clean them frequently, you'll be OK. I thoroughly clean mine every 2 weeks, and still have some nitrate issues... I spent quite a bit of money on my canister and will most likely be switching it off. I would go with your idea, get the skimmer running, get that 1.5 lb per gallon (at least) of Live Rock, and the power heads. I'm not sure if you could cut the filter out totally with out a sump, but i'm interesting in seeing what other people say.