Canister Filter as sump?

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by reef-junkie

I am currently in the process of setting up a 40 gallon frag tank.
I want the tank to be completely clean (no rock and no sand)
so obviously I'll need to have a sump. what I was wondering is instead of setting up an overflow and return, could I just use a fluval fx5 canister filter, remove all media and pack it full of live rock rubble? I plan on going skimmerless as I will have no fish.

Has anyone ever done anything like this or have any insight as to whether this will succeed or fail?

Already have the canister filter on hand

Hi
I ran a big Aquanova2000 lph very successfully on a 50 gallon tank which is about the same size as your FX5, I think the FX5 has even more flow than the filter I used so it should work very well for you for a frag tank.