I don't normally filter my reef tanks. The small aquaclear on the side on my bowfront often rotates around tanks if I have a serious need to filter. Such as last weekend when I changed my white sand in the 20L to tahitian moon sand.
When I first started doing my research on marine tanks since I knew nothing about them, I had been reading that they don't need a filter. I just run on live rock and a clean up crew.
Both my reef tanks have a refugium on the back with the one on the 20L being made from an aquaclear 70.
Lately, I have been learning to blow off my Live rock with a turkey baster before doing a water change to remove some of this debris. I think this goes any reef tank, filtered or not.