How long does it take to cycle a 29 gallon tank?

[tigerbarb88]

Danios are pretty awesome fish.. very innexpensive, hardy as heck, and very active.. they chase each other around constantly

 

[shanna123]

But do you have problems with them breeding?

 

[Huzzah1981]

It doesn't need to sit at all if you condition the water properly (ie remove chlorine if your water has it and make sure the temperature is correct). To fully cycle a tank you're looking at at least a month to 6 weeks. It will take you 3-4 weeks just for the ammonia to peak before it starts to drop. One or two weeks isn't even 1/2 way there. Try and get yourself some established media from a friend's tank, that's your best bet and the tank will cycle in no time.

The cycle process is done after your ammonia and nitrite spikes are complete and both are back down to zero. The final metabolic waste product- nitrate- must be removed manually with water changes- there is no bacteria that uses nitrate, but nitrate is also not bad for your fish until the concentrations get up over 20-30ppm.
When you have nitrate readings, then you know you are getting close to the end.

Have you considered doing a fishless cycle?

I just setup a 10 gallon tank for a shrimp colony, right next to a 36 gallon community tank that's been running for more than a year, and even after filling my new Aquaclear 20 filter with biomedia from the Aquaclear 70 on my other tank I still underwent a bit of a cycle. After 4 days, my ammonia was still around 10-20ppm.

My point is that while it certainly does speed things up, there's still a cycle to complete and it's still necessary to watch Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate as well as doing regular water changes when necessary.

(After swishing the filter floss from my 36 gallon into the 10, and a couple water changes, it looks like I'm done cycling and all I need now is to order myself some plants and shrimp! I much prefer this one-week cycle over the four-week cycle of the 36 gallon tank)