cycling length

[Jason_Rookey]

just curious on how long it takes to fully cycle a tank i have had my 55 gal for about 3 weeks and let it fishless cycle for about a week than its been running for 2 weeks with zebra danios and pristella tetras

[FroggyFox]

the actual cycle takes as much time as it needs...its not a set length of time. You can instantly cycle a tank with something like BioSpira...or do a traditional fishless cycle in as little as a couple weeks...or do a traditional fish-in cycle and that can take months. If you just let your 55 set for a week and didn't do anything (add a source of ammonia) and then put some fish in it...it actually just started cycling as soon as you put fish in it.

Depending on how many fish you have in it it will change the length of time it takes for the tank to completely stabilize.

I'd check your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels and let us know what they are and we can maybe predict a little better for you. When you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and a measureable amount of nitrates then your tank is most likely cycled. If you have 0 of all three still and you haven't done any water changes or have any live plants then your tank is progressing..but slowly. After 2 weeks with fish I'd expect at least a fair level of ammonia.