I am in the first stage of cycling. I have a 29 gl tank with a Penguin 200 Biowheel filter. I have been doing 75% water changes when ammonia get to 1ppm which has been about every 2 days.

My questions are:
1) If I get another filter, will that help decrease the number of water changes I need to do?
2) Will it slow down the cycling process? (I don't want that!)

Thanks for your help!

I doubt it'll do either. If you get another filter the bacteria won't form faster or slower and it also won't have any effect on the ammonia until the tank is cycled and the filter is established with bacteria. If you already have a filter that's good enough to turn the water over 10 times an hour (if you keep goldfish) I suggest you just stay with the filter you already have.

I guess I'll go ahead with another filter now since it won't effect the cycling process. I need 280 and I only have 200. Thanks for your help!

-If anything the second filter could expediate your cycling time! there's more surface area for the bacteria to grow on. You'll still have to keep doing your water changes, -If you're cycling with fish, 1.0ppm is a really toxic level for them! If you are cycling with fish I'd suggest to keep an eye on it and maybe do more frequent changes, it's best to keep the level below 0.25ppm.. also, a suggestion to keep the levels of ammonia down I would suggest ~minimal~ feeding, they wont starve.. -the more a fish eats the more it excretes ammonia, what is your feeding schedule at the moment?

I reckon it's a great idea to have 2 filters running on one tank anyways, -you can't have enough filtration!

Someone here told me to do a large water change during cycling when amonia reaches 1ppm. Based on the Ammonia Toxicity Chart I found in this forum, with a PH of 7.4, the total ammonia is toxic at 1ppm with water temp of 73.

I have been using the API Master Test drop kit for testing the last three days. My ammonia level was .25 the first day and .50 yesterday and is still .50 this morning. I am not sure I trust these readings. I have followed the instructions of 8 drops out of each bottle and waiting 5 minutes for the test to develop. I decided to try my test strips to compare and it shows my ammonia between 2-3!!!!

My fish are doing well. Actually, they are doing the best they have done since I got them 10 days ago. I was planning to do a large water change tonight after work anyway, but now I am worried I am not getting proper ammonia readings. I do use Amquel 2 at water changes. Could the drop test be reading only the non-binded ammonia?

Also, my strip tests show PH at 6.5 while the drop test shows 7.4. AARRGGHH what do I believe?