Reef Discussion

[slin1977]

To answer the question above in my opinion.
Fresh green Live rock cycle- the way to do it you get all the bacteria you can wish for and a cycle. You keep population of bacteria going by adding fish after the cycle.
Base rock cycle- done it multiple times with the introduction of bacteria and carbon source. I can't comment about doing these things without adding bacteria and carbon.
To answer the second part of the question above about knowing if the bacteria can handle the load we add to the tank after the cycle , again, I have always recommended one fish per month rule for marine aquariums. The other way that I can fast track this is by using a bacteria / carbon addition driven system.
If you care to read my tank journal called Serenity you will see how each week I reduced my nitrates by adding carbon source, without the need for water changes.

Thanks

 

[Azedenkae]

To answer the question above in my opinion.
Fresh green Live rock cycle- the way to do it you get all the bacteria you can wish for and a cycle. You keep population of bacteria going by adding fish after the cycle.

So to clarify, you are saying that the live rock would have all the bacteria that one would need to handle the stocking of the tank?

Base rock cycle- done it multiple times with the introduction of bacteria and carbon source. I can't comment about doing these things without adding bacteria and carbon.

Again, to clarify. You cycle by adding bacteria and a carbon source, right? What's the exact method? Add bacteria once, and carbon source once? Or either of them multiple times? Or does it depend?

To answer the second part of the question above about knowing if the bacteria can handle the load we add to the tank after the cycle , again, I have always recommended one fish per month rule for marine aquariums.

I am a bit confused here. So how do we know that the bacteria can handle the load? The one fish per month rule is fine if you want to do that, it's your choice, but I don't quite understand how that can tell if there's enough bacteria to handle the load? I mean I guess besides the fish dying from say spikes or something, but wouldn't one be wanting to ensure the cycle is completed before fish additions? Or are you saying that testing is not necessary, and adding a fish per month is fine regardless?

The other way that I can fast track this is by using a bacteria / carbon addition driven system.
If you care to read my tank journal called Serenity you will see how each week I reduced my nitrates by adding carbon source, without the need for water changes.

Thanks

I do have a question about this actually - why do wait until after the cycle to reduce the concentration of potentially toxic chemicals, and not before? Or are we still talking about the cycle? If so, why is there already fish in the system during the cycle?

 

[slin1977]

I'll do my best to answer your questions...here goes!

So to clarify, you are saying that the live rock would have all the bacteria that one would need to handle the stocking of the tank?

Yes- it would have enough strains of bacteria to handle the stocking of a tank via a traditional cycle - circa 30-40 days . That's how long the nitrification cycle takes as seen by death and decomposition . That's how long you have to wait before you stock your tank since it takes that long for those strains of bacteria to complete the cycle .
When you add your first fish you again have a cycle , fish wee and poo create ammonia, nitrite and then nitrate and so the cycle continues.



Again, to clarify. You cycle by adding bacteria and a carbon source, right? What's the exact method? Add bacteria once, and carbon source once? Or either of them multiple times? Or does it depend?

The exact method is called Zeovit 14 day cycle.
My method is called using a test kit and watching a trend through recording results feeding the introduced bacteria a proprietary mixture carbon source. Usually feeding the carbon twice per day.


I am a bit confused here. So how do we know that the bacteria can handle the load? The one fish per month rule is fine if you want to do that, it's your choice, but I don't quite understand how that can tell if there's enough bacteria to handle the load? I mean I guess besides the fish dying from say spikes or something, but wouldn't one be wanting to ensure the cycle is completed before fish additions? Or are you saying that testing is not necessary, and adding a fish per month is fine regardless?

The one fish per month method is for newbies / people that are new to the hobby generally don't have the multiple test kits or the understanding of methodology. Hence they take their water usually to the LFS on week three or four , the LFS says right, you are good to go. Test kits show water parameters to be at safe levels.
For the experienced reefer used to carbon dosing they understand the potency and effects of adding carbon source- the effect of drastically dropping nitrates and phosphates by feeding the bacteria.

I do have a question about this actually - why do wait until after the cycle to reduce the concentration of potentially toxic chemicals, and not before? Or are we still talking about the cycle? If so, why is there already fish in the system during the cycle?

I still don't get what you are going on about toxic chemicals , you are testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate right? You not putting fish in a tank with ammonia are you?
Have you not seen fish tank kings, they open an exhibit in 12 hours fish and all- fish tank kings pump the aquarium with beneficial bacteria and follow it up daily after the tank has been set up.
Again the likely hood of newbies starting a Zeovit / Dutch synthetic reef/ Triton/ Balling method system straight off the mark is very unlikely.

 

[Azedenkae]

Thanks.

Yes- it would have enough strains of bacteria to handle the stocking of a tank via a traditional cycle - circa 30-40 days . That's how long the nitrification cycle takes as seen by death and decomposition . That's how long you have to wait before you stock your tank since it takes that long for those strains of bacteria to complete the cycle .
When you add your first fish you again have a cycle , fish wee and poo create ammonia, nitrite and then nitrate and so the cycle continues.

Do you have anything to say that it takes 30-40 days for the nitrification cycle to take due to death and decomposition?

The exact method is called Zeovit 14 day cycle.
My method is called using a test kit and watching a trend through recording results feeding the introduced bacteria a proprietary mixture carbon source. Usually feeding the carbon twice per day.

So the initial cycle is done by adding a carbon source, which can be something like twice per day. And then what? What results are you looking for?

I am a bit confused here. So how do we know that the bacteria can handle the load? The one fish per month rule is fine if you want to do that, it's your choice, but I don't quite understand how that can tell if there's enough bacteria to handle the load? I mean I guess besides the fish dying from say spikes or something, but wouldn't one be wanting to ensure the cycle is completed before fish additions? Or are you saying that testing is not necessary, and adding a fish per month is fine regardless?

The one fish per month method is for newbies / people that are new to the hobby generally don't have the multiple test kits or the understanding of methodology. Hence they take their water usually to the LFS on week three or four , the LFS says right, you are good to go. Test kits show water parameters to be at safe levels.

Then that is something reserved to people who are new/are not aware of the intricacies, not a general method that should be followed. Neither you nor I nor others who have had experience must absolutely follow that method, must we?

I do have a question about this actually - why do wait until after the cycle to reduce the concentration of potentially toxic chemicals, and not before? Or are we still talking about the cycle? If so, why is there already fish in the system during the cycle?

I still don't get what you are going on about toxic chemicals , you are testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate right? You not putting fish in a tank with ammonia are you?

No, not putting a fish in an aquarium with ammonia and nitrite (and nitrate) tested positive for, no. However, just because parameters are at zero doesn't mean that after a change (such as adding fish and feeding it and all that), it will remain at zero. For example this. Or this. Basically people see ammonia increasing after adding their stock. Sure the second example is two fish, but you get the idea. It happens commonly enough, though in my books that shouldn't even occur. So my question is to you, is the possibility of an ammonia (or nitrite/nitrate/whatever) spike expected and part of what you would consider 'normal', and if not, how do we know that there won't be a spike when the first fish or whatever is added?

Have you not seen fish tank kings, they open an exhibit in 12 hours fish and all- fish tank kings pump the aquarium with beneficial bacteria and follow it up daily after the tank has been set up

That's cool.

Again the likely hood of newbies starting a Zeovit / Dutch synthetic reef/ Triton/ Balling method system straight off the mark is very unlikely.

Yeah but it'd be good if they can, and should be an option anyways. Though I guess I am just as guilty of trying to shepherd the newbies too, down what I think is right.

 

[slin1977]

Shop DrTim's Store
Fishless Cycling
An Easy Way to Start Your New Aquarium – Read our “Quick Guide to Fishless Cycling” here

What is Fishless Cycling:
The term “fishless cycling” refers to the process of establishing the nitrifying bacteria in a newly set-up aquarium without using fish which are used in the traditional cycling method (for information about cycling a new aquarium please click here).

The problem associated with using fish in the cycling period is that normally, when establishing the nitrifying bacteria in a new aquarium, the ammonia and nitrite concentrations can get so high that the fish may die. Typically, therefore, hardy inexpensive fish were used during the cycling period, but many people prefer not to subject any fish to the possibility of death from high ammonia or nitrite so a different method was called for, which resulted in the fishless cycling method.
(Note: The fishless cycling method was developed before the invention of DrTim’s Aquatics One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria, which effectively eliminates the possibility of high ammonia and nitrite during cycling when used correctly.

However, whether you choose to cycle your aquarium with or without fish, it will still take about 30 days unless you add an effective nitrifying bacteria. Using DrTim’s Aquatics One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria in either case will cut the cycling time dramatically.)

What’s Cycling and Who Are the Nitrifying Bacteria:
Briefly, the main waste product of fish is ammonia, which dissolves into the aquarium water. But ammonia is toxic and will build up in the water unless something is done. Luckily, nature has provided the answer in a group of beneficial bacteria called nitrifying bacteria. One set of these bacteria (the ammonia-oxidizers) converts the ammonia to nitrite. But nitrite is also toxic to fish, especially in a freshwater aquarium. However, a second set of bacteria (the nitrite-oxidizers) convert the nitrite to nitrate which is non-toxic (for traditional reasons this process is called a “cycle” but the nitrate does not go back to being ammonia to complete the cycle except in special cases which are beyond this article).

The problem is that both the ammonia and nitrite oxidizing bacteria are very slow growing so it can take 30 to 45 days (usually saltwater takes longer) for the bacteria to become naturally established, during which time ammonia and nitrite can reach toxic levels and potentially causing fish death (see chart 1). Also, and this is important, in order for the nitrifying bacteria to become established, there has to be some source of ammonia added to the aquarium. Just setting up the tank and turning the filter on will not establish the nitrifying bacteria.
Fishless cycling uses an ammonia source other than live fish to establish the nitrifying bacteria.

Chart 1. Typical patterns of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in a new aquarium.



How to Fishless Cycle:

There are a few different ways to fishless cycle your aquarium which are described below. All have the basic steps of adding ammonia from some source instead of live fish and waiting until the ammonia can be converted to nitrate quickly, at which point the tank is considered cycled and you can start to add fish. To be sure the tank has cycled, you should buy ammonia and nitrite test kits and make sure all the ammonia is converted to nitrate with no trace of nitrite within 24 hours before adding fish. Beware, however, during the fishless cycling, only enough bacteria will be established to take care of the ammonia added to the tank during the cycling period. If you add so many fish that they produce a lot more ammonia than was added during the fishless cycling, you may see some ammonia and nitrite but these should disappear after a day or two – more information is given below about how to complete the process.

Using shrimp or fish food: One of the more popular fishless cycling methods is to buy a few dead shrimp at the grocery store, cut them up into chunks and add them to the aquarium. The shrimp decay, which produces ammonia to feed the nitrifying bacteria. There are a few drawbacks with this method, one being that the hobbyist really has no way to know how much ammonia is being produced by the decaying shrimp, and the aquarium does not look very good with dead shrimp laying on the bottom. Also, the organic material of the shrimp can cause bacteria blooms which turn the aquarium water cloudy. This method works but it takes time and patience and you will probably see a spike in ammonia and nitrite if you add a medium to heavy load of fish after the initial cycling. Note that some people use flake fish food instead of shrimp but this is not recommended because flake food does not have much organic material compared to shrimp and so does not add a lot of ammonia to the water, but you can use cut fish instead of shrimp. Hint: to speed up the decay of the shrimp/fish and produce more ammonia, add some DrTim’s Aquatics Waste-Away sludge busting bacteria to the tank.

Using ammonium chloride: This is the other most popular way to cycle a fishless aquarium. Simply add chemical ammonia to the aquarium water and let the process cycle. The benefits of this method are that the tank does not cloud up with a bacteria bloom and you don’t have to look at an aquarium with dead cut up shrimp or fish on the bottom. Plus you can somewhat accurately determine the amount of ammonia being added to the tank. The drawbacks to this method are that the proper ammonia solution can be hard to find and when you do find an ammonia solution you may not be able to easily determine its concentration.

Why do you need proper ammonia? Most of the ammonia solutions that are easy to find at grocery or hardware stores are for household cleaning use. They usually contain an additive for scent or something else. Never use anything but pure ammonia. Also, many of the ammonia cleaning solutions which have a heavy ammonia order also have very high pH and the smell is ammonia gas. Over time, the ammonia is leaving the solution so the concentration is changing (getting lower). Most start out between 4 and 11% ammonia but rarely is the concentration given on the bottle, so it can be hard to figure out how much to add. If you are going to use an ammonia solution, proceed cautiously at first until you have an idea of how much ammonia is actually being put into the aquarium water. For this you need to be able to accurately measure the amount of the liquid you are putting into the water. Add some solution to your aquarium, let it mix and then use your test kit to measure the ammonia concentration in the water. You want to have an initial ammonia-nitrogen concentration of 2 to 3 mg/L (ppm). Do not go above 5 mg/L.

Whatever the source of your ammonia, the following is the way to proceed. Add the ammonia solution to the aquarium so that the ammonia concentration is between 2 and 3 mg/L (but, as mentioned, do not go above 5 mg/L). Record the amount of liquid you added. If you are not using DrTim’s One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria, wait 2 or 3 days and measure the ammonia and nitrite. Continue measuring ammonia and nitrite every 2 or 3 days until you start to see some nitrite. This is a sign that the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria are starting to work. Add half the initial amount of ammonia you added to the water on day 1. Continue measuring ammonia and nitrite every 2 or 3 days. Around day 9 to 12, the ammonia will probably be below 1 mg/L, maybe even 0, but nitrite will be present. Nitrite does not spike until somewhere between days 14 and 20. You want to be careful adding more ammonia because you do not want the nitrite-nitrogen over 5 mg/L as this will start to poison the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. Add a little ammonia every few days (1/4 dose), making sure the nitrite does not go above 5 mg/L. Once you start to see the nitrite decrease, it will drop pretty fast. The cycle is completed when you can add the full dose of ammonia (2 to 3 mg/L-N) and overnight it all disappears to nitrate with no sign of nitrite. Now you can start to add fish.

Using DrTim’s Aquatics One & Only Live Bacteria: The best and easiest way to fishless cycle is to combine adding the ammonium chloride with our Live Nitrifying bacteria. When used in combination, these will cycle the tank in less than one week. Again, do not add too much ammonia. We make it easy by providing a bottle of reagent grade ammonium chloride that is at a concentration such that adding 1 drop of solution to 1 gallon of aquarium water will result in an ammonia-nitrogen concentration of 2 mg/L (ppm).

The procedure is to add the ammonium chloride solution, shake the bottle of nitrifying bacteria well and add it to the aquarium. Measure ammonia and nitrite the next day and record. Add ½ dose and wait 24 hours and measure again. By day 5 to 7, you should be able to add 1 drop per gallon and the next day, ammonia and nitrite will be 0.

Troubleshooting:
The three biggest problems with fishless cycling are 1) cloudy water, which may even smell, when doing the cut shrimp method, 2) when dosing with ammonium chloride, letting the ammonia and/or nitrite getting too high and 3) a low pH value.

The cloudy water will eventually clear up but you can add a natural organic remover like DrTim’s Waste-Away to speed up the decay process. You can also change the water. Many people mistakenly think the cloudy white water is a nitrifying bacteria bloom but that is wrong. Nitrifying bacteria cannot grow fast enough to cloud the water.

The high ammonia or nitrite concentration (which by the way can sometimes occur in the shrimp method) is a problem because high levels of ammonia or nitrite inhibit the nitrifying bacteria. You need to change the water to reduce the ammonia and nitrite to get the cycle going again.

Also, if you decided not to use our Live Nitrifying Bacteria in the beginning and now want to add some to speed up the process, you need to make sure the ammonia and nitrite concentrations are under 5 mg/L-N before adding the One & Only Live Nitrifying bacteria.

The other big problem is that the cycling process seems to stall with ammonia or nitrite not dropping anymore. Usually this is due to a low pH value (less than 7.0). The conversion of the ammonia and nitrite by the bacteria naturally produces an acid that will lower the water pH. If the pH gets too low, however, the nitrification (cycling) process will stop. So if you add a lot of ammonia over the course of a week and get the cycling cranking, you can actually cause the pH to drop to a low value and ‘stall’ the entire process. The way to get the cycling going again is to simply do a 25 to 20% water change. This will increase the pH and usually gets the cycling process going again.

Lastly, do not add ammonia-removing products as this just complicates the process – let nature take its course and your tank will be ready for fish.

 

[jayellul]

I started my new tank with dead rock, various bottled bacteria products and adding fish the next day. I then added a new fish a week later. Then transferred the rest of my fish in the next week.

This worked very well for me and I'd follow this again. This day and age there is no need for traditional 'cycling' of a tank. As long as your husbandry is consistent through the life of the tank. Waiting months and months to add fish is not necessary these days.

 

[jayellul]

I did similar to that dr tims thing just different products.

 

[dino]

I started my new tank with dead rock, various bottled bacteria products and adding fish the next day. I then added a new fish a week later. Then transferred the rest of my fish in the next week.

This worked very well for me and I'd follow this again. This day and age there is no need for traditional 'cycling' of a tank. As long as your husbandry is consistent through the life of the tank. Waiting months and months to add fish is not necessary these days.

This is similar to what you would do when setting up a quarantine or hospital tank. Won't work if you start with fresh live rocks - the die off would be toxic for all fish. The traditional 4-6 week cycle is the time it takes for the toxic ammonia and nitrites released by the die off to be cleared by bacteria action.

 

[jayellul]

This is similar to what you would do when setting up a quarantine or hospital tank. Won't work if you start with fresh live rocks - the die off would be toxic for all fish. The traditional 4-6 week cycle is the time it takes for the toxic ammonia and nitrites released by the die off to be cleared by bacteria action.

Well I had about 5kg of LR in my sump so that blows your theory right out of the water. Which is still there.

 

[dino]

Well I had about 5kg of LR in my sump so that blows your theory right out of the water. Which is still there.

Was it cured live rock from an existing tank?

Please don't give new reefers the impression that they can buy some fresh live rock, throw them in into a tank of salt water and start adding fish the next day.

 

[Azedenkae]

Fishless Cycling

Okay, so after the initial cycle, regardless of whether we started off with live rock or base/dry/artificial rock, fish can only be added 30-45 days later. Is that what you are saying? Or have I misunderstood?

 

[slin1977]

Okay, so after the initial cycle, regardless of whether we started off with live rock or base/dry/artificial rock, fish can only be added 30-45 days later. Is that what you are saying? Or have I misunderstood?

The initial cycle can be accomplished in as little as 14 days according to the Zeovit method.

 

[Azedenkae]

The initial cycle can be accomplished in as little as 14 days according to the Zeovit method.

Okay, so the entire pre-fish-addition process requires parameters to zero out initially, then another length of time to establish bacteria, enough to handle the first fish. Is that correct?

 

[slin1977]

Okay, so the entire pre-fish-addition process requires parameters to zero out initially, then another length of time to establish bacteria, enough to handle the first fish. Is that correct?

Yes- not enough bacteria... Can't process waste.... You going to have a bigger cycle.
A population of 20 billion bacteria at the end of your cycle is going to need feeding or it will die out, with food it may swell to 40 billion and stabilise... With more fish means more waste and this may sustain a stable population of 100 billion bacteria. If we remove the food source altogether what's going to happen?

 

[Azedenkae]

Yes- not enough bacteria... Can't process waste.... You going to have a bigger cycle.
A population of 20 billion bacteria at the end of your cycle is going to need feeding or it will die out, with food it may swell to 40 billion and stabilise... With more fish means more waste and this may sustain a stable population of 100 billion bacteria. If we remove the food source altogether what's going to happen?

Cool.

In conclusion:

If we define the initial cycle as 'getting ammonia, nitrite (and perhaps nitrate) to zero', then this would mean:
1.a.) For live rock, we have to wait until things die and stuff and the parameters zero out.
1.b.) For dry/base/artificial rock, basically it's already at zero.
2.) Microbes is propagated, until the point where they can maintain parameters at zero when challenged with ammonia.
3.) Add one fish at a time.

Is that the correct summary?

 

[slin1977]

4.) if adding more fish , add more bacteria to cope with point 2.
5.) certain bacteria strains can deal with nutrients very effectively if carbon source is introduced.

 

[slin1977]

Stability
Product Description
Stability® will rapidly and safely establish the aquarium biofilter in freshwater and marine systems, thereby preventing the #1 cause of fish death: "new tank syndrome". Stability® is formulated specifically for the aquarium and contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria which facilitate the breakdown of waste organics, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Unlike competing products, the bacteria employed by Stability® are non-sulfur fixing and will not produce toxic hydrogen sulfide. Stability® is completely harmless to all aquatic organisms as well as aquatic plants, thus there is no danger of over use. Stability® is the culmination of nearly a decade of research and development and represents the current state of the art in natural biological management.

Sizes: 50 mL, 100 mL, 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L

Why It's Different
Illustration of Stability's™ bacteria on biofiltration material. stability contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria

The bacteria used in competing products are inherently unstable. The conditions necessary for their growth and development fall into a very narrow range of temperatures, pH, organic loads, etc. When any of these parameters are not strictly within the proper range, the bacterial culture quickly crashes and dies. Stability® does not contain any of the aforementioned bacteria.

The bacteria strains in Stability® have been in development for over a decade. The necessary conditions for growth of our bacterial strains encompass a very broad range. When other bacteria begin to die off (usually from high organic loads caused by the undetected death of an organism), Stability® simply works harder and grows faster! The strains function in fresh or saltwater. Stability®contains both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, a blend found in no other product. Additionally, Stability® contains facultative bacterial strains which are able to adapt to either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. The bacteria in Stability® are non-sulfur fixing, another innovation in the industry. Most other bacterial supplements will form toxic hydrogen sulfide under the proper conditions. Stability® will not, ever.

Directions
Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 40 L (10 gallons*) on the first day with a new aquarium. Then use 1 capful for each 80 L (20 gallons*) daily for 7 days. Fish and other aquatic species may be introduced at any time as long as dosage is maintained for 7 days. For optimum biofilter performance use 1 capful for each 40 L (10 gallons*) once a month or with each water change and whenever introducing new fish or whenever medicating an aquarium.


Related Products

• Matrix™
• Prime®
• Safe™
• AmGuard™
• Ammonia Alert™
• MultiTest™ Ammonia

Related Articles

• The Art and Science of Aquarium Management
• Ammonia Management
• Fresh Conditioning
• Marine Conditioning

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000116012508100 mL
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[suta42]

I think the main difference in duration is to do with whether you use live rock and whether it's very fresh and you get little die off, or if its purchased with a lot of die off already happening. When the rock is very fresh and has very little die off ie no detectable ammonia or nitrite surge and there are a lot of living organisms present, then adding the first fish a week or two later is not a big risk. After all the rock should have plenty of worms, brittle stars, crabs, pods etc... These all transpire and poop, contributing ammonia to the system. You don't need to add fish, ammonium chloride etc... just to find out whether the cycle is actually complete.

OTOH if there's plenty of decaying sponges, tunicates, bryozoan etc within or on the rock the cycle takes much longer, and yeah I do believe there are things present we can't test for. Haven't tried the zeo 14 day cycle but I personally wouldn't be adding any delicate fish at the end of 14 days just because you can't detect a cycle - unless you've used rock from an existing system. Interestingly, I have tried some products such as Stability but don't believe it did anything beneficial. That's not to say there aren't products out there that are helpful.

Just some of my thoughts and as apparent above, we all do what we think is appropriate for our individual circumstances and hope it coincides with what's best overall for the system.

 

[Azedenkae]

@slin1977 Thanks, that clarifies everything I needed to know. That method is fine, although not something that I'd prefer. Will detail why in the next post, but as is that's cool.

@suta42 Mhm. That is also why there is the possibility that one can add fish right away after adding live rock, because if it is cured (or simply just harbor plenty of bacteria), with little die-off, there is the possibility that there is enough bacteria already from the getgo (as opposed to having to grow/maintain more as per Dr. Tim or whatever). It is of course situational though.

 

[Azedenkae]

@slin1977

So one of the reasons (and actually probably the main reason) why we disagreed, is due to the definition of the 'initial cycle'.

My definition was that the 'initial cycle' is the entire duration that involves the propagation of microbes, enough to deal with the live stock load we then add. In this case, my definition of 'the initial cycle' would incorporate both your 'initial cycle' and the steps after to propagate more microbes (if necessary, for the sake of simplicity, let's assume so).

This is due to the fact that many argues that there are more cycled than just the nitrogen cycle, such as algal blooms, pod blooms, etc. etc. that can all be regarded as something that appears and disappears until they reach a balance (much like the nitrogen cycle). I don't really have a comment on that, but to make it easier to communicate I had been referring to the entire thing as the 'initial cycle'. Which is why I prefer the term 'microbial propagation phase', since it's not entirely a cycle either. It's just a point/period in time where we are propagating microbes to deal with fish and other live stock we add to the aquarium. I think we can both agree on this, yes?

I guess the difference is in my view - if we are to propagate a bunch of microbes to deal with the eventual load, why not just make sure there is enough to deal with more than just that one fish we add, from the getgo?

That way the aquarium is ready, and later on as we add more and more fish (or even if we add more than one at a time), we wouldn't need to do anything that'd take too much time (such as propagating more microbes again and again). Even if we don't expect to add multiple fish at once, it would be very advantageous for there to be microbes to deal with unexpected situations as well, such as unexpected fish deaths.

To achieve this, my idea is to simply ensure that there is plenty of microbes to deal with a large amount of organic matter, by well, providing said amount of organic matter and ensuring that there is enough microbes in the aquarium to deal with it.

This is similar to Tim's method, whereby he suggests adding one drop of ammonia per gallon and seeing the aquarium managing to deal with it by the next day. This is also an example of 'testing the filtrative capacity of an aquarium', something that I keep referring to. Because essentially that is what it is. Testing to see if the filtrative capacity is up to par.

Of course, the difference is that I prefer to use organics (specifically fish food). And that I'd use quite an amount, because the difference here of course is that Tim is only aiming to add one fish at a time, the the amount of ammonia he suggests is for that, whereby I am testing to see if the system can handle way more than one fish.

Most of the issues Tim listed, I don't really have an issue with. Yeah so it might get cloudy, or there may be a bacterial bloom, but it doesn't matter at this stage. What matters is the final step of testing the aquarium, which I'd use fish food. This ensures that the amount of ammonia produced IS the amount needed to be dealt with, whatever the actual amount would be. So long as the aquarium can deal with that much food, then that's all that's needed to be known to know that it is fully ready for stocking.

How much food... well I haven't quite figured it out completely, but generally whatever one would expect to feed +30%.

Knowing this is another thing entirely, which of course relies on one's research onto what species one is planning to keep, or at least in general how much food an average fish consumes. Which isn't exactly hard.

So long as it is an overestimation, and the aquarium can handle it, then it is fine. For example when I tested my tank's filtrative capacity, I added about twice as much as I would end up feeding my fish. That means that once I did fully stock my tank, the filtration system was only dealing with at most half of what it can deal with, allowing for a large buffer zone.

Of course, it is not as if the entire amount of ammonia from food one adds in the day would be made available to the bacteria in that day. Some would be incorporated into the livestock. Some would never even produce ammonia, unlike if it was just floating around in the water. Some would not be of consideration until the fish or whatever poops it out. But on average, what goes in per day gets removed per day. Which is the principal behind Tim's thingo too.

So to sum it up:
0.) My goal is to have enough microbes to deal with a full stock (and more).
1.) microbes therefore needs to be at necessary levels before fish (and other) additions.
2.) To do this, I suggest organic matter (Tim suggests just plain ammonia, basically).
3.) Whenever ammonia, nitrite (and preferably nitrate) zeroes out, test the filtrative capacity (similar to Tim), by adding an amount of fish food (not similar to Tim) that is equal to amount one would feed a full tank a day, plus some (not similar to Tim).
4.a.) If the aquarium can handle that much food within a day, then one can start stocking.
4.b.) If not, continue propagating microbes until the aquarium can.

Yes/no? Queries? Clarifications? Something is confusing?

I may have missed out something important, so if something doesn't make sense, please let me knoe.

But this is my view, as my goal is not to only be able to add one fish at a time, and having to bump up microbial numbers in between, but to do it all in one go plus some. Which is of course different from yours, whereby you want to only add one fish at a time.