I have a couple of canisters I run at various times depending on what I want to do... I have a Filstar XP3 I run chemi-pure in almost full time... and I have a HOT magnum that I run carbon periodically in... Whichever way you decide to go, make sure it IS accessible for cleaning and changing media, unfortunately there's no real way around that.
External filters are great in FW and Fish only salt systems, but tend to be used for supplemental filtration in reefs. I hope this helps. 
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135G Mixed Reef. Bullet 2, 25 gal refugium, 2 X250W MH + 4X 96W PC\'s, DIY Calcium Reactor, Coralife 1/6 HP Chiller, Phosban, Tunze, 2 closed loops & SQWD\'s, Seios, Coralife 4 stage RO/DI & a bunch of other expensive gadgets... I may never retire, but I'm gonnahavahelluvanaquarium!
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