The amount you stock the tank really depends on the amount of 'seeded' material you are adding. It is always best to start small when doing a clone tank. In a fishless cycle, you would complete the cycle exactly as the article written here, except you would test in 24 hours and go from there. The initial stages are greatly reduced, but the end of the cycle is the same. You still start with 3 ppm ammonia. In 24 hours, you see how much ammonia has been processed and how much nitrite, if any, has shown up. Many times in a seeded cycle, the nitrite doesn't show up right away. The ammonia and nitrite bacs are in a good balance. But, as the ammonia bacs multiply, they grow at a slightly faster rate than the nitrite bacs and so it does show up a bit (not to mention that '1 ppm ammonia' as the API kit tests it will become just over '2.5ppm' nitrite - since the scale is based on the MASS of the particles, not the number of nitrogen atoms involved (which would have a 1:1 ratio).
If I were to seed a 29 gallon tank from a 10 gallon tank, I'd likely go the fishless route unless I was otherwise FORCED to start it earlier. The only time I've gone fish in cycle is when I was seeding a SMALLER tank from a larger one. A smaller tank won't require as much bacteria to deal with the bioload (assuming you keep the load in proportion to the volume of the tank). A larger tank requires a larger colony to deal with the bioload for that size tank (larger volume = greater max bioload). You can take nearly half of the filter media from the 10 gallon though when seeding the 29. The 10 gallon has the benefit of ALL the other surfaces in the tank containing bacteria as well. You can also bring over a bit of the substrate, decor, etc. All surfaces provide places for the bacs you want to live and do their job.
As for plants... there are actually quite a lot out there. Anubias are very nice, slow growing, low light, low maintenance plants. Java fern is another very lovely, easily grown, no fuss plant. Peacock fern as well. These are all plants that cannot be 'planted' in the substrate, but need to be tied to decor (wood, rocks, etc) as their rhizome must stay in the water column or it will rot and the plant will die. Lots of anubias leaf styles and sizes to choose from.
Stem plants... pennywort, elodea, sometimes cabomba. Some of these will be trickier than others. Pennywort will likely work no matter what.
Bushy plants... A lot of cryptocoryne species will work. C. wendtii is a readily available and easy to grow variety. You can also grow some nice amazon swords. Some will be fussier than others.
Grass like... vallisneria might work for you or it might not. I've had extremely limited success with it. Saggittaria, hairgrass and their dwarf varieties are nice and fairly low maintenance.
In general, avoid 'red' varieties as they generally require higher light. And research. Here's a good source for determining what type of lighting is needed for plants: http
/tropica.com/en/plants (I'm not endorsing buying from them. I've never ordered from them, but I have considered it. Its a nice starting point though.)
If I were to seed a 29 gallon tank from a 10 gallon tank, I'd likely go the fishless route unless I was otherwise FORCED to start it earlier. The only time I've gone fish in cycle is when I was seeding a SMALLER tank from a larger one. A smaller tank won't require as much bacteria to deal with the bioload (assuming you keep the load in proportion to the volume of the tank). A larger tank requires a larger colony to deal with the bioload for that size tank (larger volume = greater max bioload). You can take nearly half of the filter media from the 10 gallon though when seeding the 29. The 10 gallon has the benefit of ALL the other surfaces in the tank containing bacteria as well. You can also bring over a bit of the substrate, decor, etc. All surfaces provide places for the bacs you want to live and do their job.
As for plants... there are actually quite a lot out there. Anubias are very nice, slow growing, low light, low maintenance plants. Java fern is another very lovely, easily grown, no fuss plant. Peacock fern as well. These are all plants that cannot be 'planted' in the substrate, but need to be tied to decor (wood, rocks, etc) as their rhizome must stay in the water column or it will rot and the plant will die. Lots of anubias leaf styles and sizes to choose from.
Stem plants... pennywort, elodea, sometimes cabomba. Some of these will be trickier than others. Pennywort will likely work no matter what.
Bushy plants... A lot of cryptocoryne species will work. C. wendtii is a readily available and easy to grow variety. You can also grow some nice amazon swords. Some will be fussier than others.
Grass like... vallisneria might work for you or it might not. I've had extremely limited success with it. Saggittaria, hairgrass and their dwarf varieties are nice and fairly low maintenance.
In general, avoid 'red' varieties as they generally require higher light. And research. Here's a good source for determining what type of lighting is needed for plants: http
/tropica.com/en/plants (I'm not endorsing buying from them. I've never ordered from them, but I have considered it. Its a nice starting point though.)
I want the best for him, but have no more space than for a 5 gallon. I'm sure he will be happier in a 5 gallon, though. The tank he is in now is cycled so I plan to transfer the marbles and decorations to the new tank and find a way to fit the filter pad in the new tank. Hopefully the cycle will be fairly quick then so I can transfer him to his bigger home 
