I have been reefing from 2004 - 2008 and 2014 till now (2018). During both times, I have been using canister filter for my reef tank. Most of the reactions I got from fellow reefers when they heard that I am "still" using canister are comments such as "canister is a nitrate factory", "canister is troublesome to use", "canister cannot keep many fishes", etc. While some of the negative comments are valid, most of them are urban myths and could be avoided with good understanding of how a canister works and be a bit more diligent.It is not my intention to teach you what to do, I am merely sharing what works for me. I am also not endorsing any brands that I mentioned here, it is just that I have used them and find that they work, which is why I am still using them now.Hopefully with my sharing of experience, more and more new reefers could start the hobby (at a relatively lower cost) and able to keep a beautiful reef tank at an affordable price.