Is the PRE fuel filter necessary? Options

[Bulldog9]

I'm about ready to wrap up the under carriage of my project, and take it off the jack stands, and have a bit of a quandary as I put my fuel system supply together.

I've already replaced the fuel lines front and rear, new filter in the rear, and installed the new fuel tank.

The last piece of the puzzle is to attach the fuel pump, but there is a REAL mismatch in the sizes of the nipple on the tank and fuel pump. The fuel outlet on the tank is about 12mm (1/2 inch) and the nipple on the CB performance low pressure fuel pump is about 7mm (1/4"). I made up a barbed fitting, but is now too long to fit comfortably and the fuel pump is pushed off to the side rather than center of the front suspension cross member.

I know these tanks have a decent fuel screen/sock in the tank, and as this tank is super clean inside, am thinking about eliminating the pre filter. The barbed fitting is just about as long as the filter, and will fit perfectly.

Can this pre (in pic) filter be eliminated and run the normal just before the carbs?