as you get more and more addicted to the hobby and you start looking for more and newer equipment, you are eventually set up a closed loop system so....anything that is worth doing is worth doing right... you might as well just do it now.
as for the swcd, there cool but the 1st time your return pump sucks up sand ore something other that water, it will probably stop splitting the water. just make sure you don't have your return pump on a sand bed. good luck