Hi William and welcome to Simply. SimplyDiscus is a forum which is exclusively dedicated to the keeping of discus and has the collective knowledge of many seasoned discus keepers. While your methods made work for you there are better ways.
First off we recommend starting with a 75 gallon vs a 55 gallon. A 75 is a bit more forgiving to a newbie discus keeper and give the fish a better footprint for their size and movement. We suggest members use their tap water as it is the most stable water available to most of us and we do not recommend using buffers to adjust the ph. A stable ph is best and domestics are well adapted to a range of ph and water hardness for general discus keeping.
We also recommend the fishless method for starting a new tank but do not recommend the use of other fish to assist in the cycle. We prefer to not add pathogens associated with dither fish to the new discus tank as it poses a contamination risk to the discus and breaks quarantine.
When introducing discus to the new tank we suggest the drop and plop method vs the drip method. There is far less risk of ammonia burn to the fish. Once you open the shipping bag the ammonia which was held in check by the low ph in the closed bag goes toxic and you risk burning the fins and gills to the fish. With the drop and plop this risk is very low. The bag water is not added to the tank.
We also recommend to new discus keepers to apply KISS and go bare bottom with sponge filters. Once the discus keeper has a handle on their fish then add sand, wood etc to the tank. Since we promote growing discus to achieve their maximum potential or to maintain healthy discus we also recommend large daily water changes starting out. Once discus are adults people can determine what frequency and percentage water changes what works best for them. Many of the seasoned discus keepers recommend a temperature of no more then 82F (of 28C). This helps to save on the power bill plus pathogens proliferate at higher temperatures.
Since you promote ongoing research the owner of SimplyDiscus, Al Sabetta did a talk at the ACA Convention this year on discus keeping and is a must watch for new and old discus keepers alike.