Personally I love canister filters. I’ve used the Marineland Magnum filters for over 10 years and feel they are quite reliable. They are easy to use/clean and the micron filter does a wonderful job at polishing the water similar to a diatom filter for a crystal clear tank.
I have 90 lbs of
lr in my 55 and it does all the biological filtering and I use the
Marineland Magnum 350 Deluxe Filter System for water circulation and for dropping in carbon,
Chemi Pure, &
Seachem Phosguard
For a 29
gal the
Marineland Magnum 250 should give you enough flow. The nice thing about the Magnum 350 is that you can store it below your tank and out of view.
Some other great canister filters are the
Eheim Canisters,
Rena FilStar, & the
Hagen Fluval Canisters.
With any canister filter you will probably want to remove any sponge media/bio balls since these easily collect waste and produce excess
no3. I only use the above mentioned chemicals in mine and change those out about every 3 weeks.
Of course if you get a sump you can accomplish all the chemical/water movement as well but it can sometimes be difficult to set one up with limited space under a 29
gal tank. Also the canisters are whisper quite which is why I like them.
Two power heads on opposite sides of the tank pointing up and towards the center along with the canister filter in the center will help eliminate any dead spots. I’d aim for around 200
gph for each
ph.
I’d still get at least 30 lbs of
lr for your biological filtration and if you need to cut costs a 50\50 mix of base rock and
lr will save you a little more than half of going all
lr.
