personally i think any tank under a 100g is very simple to keep your nitrates below 10ppm , theres a very very hush hush secret to it though you ready??? ok here it is but dont tell anyone k....shhh!!
blow debris of your rocks, followed by large water changes and very light feedings...waa laa .....zero to low nitrates once they are low REGULAR water changes will keep them in check as long as your have decent flow around your rocks and your not over feeding.
the success to low nutrient systems for me is quite simple i run gfo in a reactor id never run a tank without it, i do decet water changes and i dont have a large bio load so i dont feed alot.
if you put to many fish in your tank, you feed too much food, you let ditrius build up and dont stay on top of water changes nitrates will build up, its easier to control them then it is to get rid of them.
imo carbon dosing is something left to those who are experienced enough to do so as the margin for error is easy in a small tank as with all things in a small tank, carbon dosing also needs to be followed to a tee in order for it to work and akes a min of weeks to see results.it works great and alot of peope do it including myself(vodka) ii would also recommend having a skimmer that exceeds your take volume the bigger the better
cheers