If your not doing large water changes you dont even need a carbon filter. I water change up to 10% per day on my growout tanks without any dramas. If your water supply has a particularly high chlorine content (pool shops have cheap chlorine test kits) you could still do 10% per week quite safely.
A filter is quite cheap though and a mechanical prefilter may prolong your Carbon life. I use a fine mechanical prefilter so I dont need to check drip rates constantly