Cycling confusion

[kim68048]

I'm about ready to start cycling my 55 gallon tank. I'm trying to do my research on getting the tank cycled properly and am getting confused. I have read a lot of posts about using ammonia but am wondering if this is still the suggested method? I will have a very thin layer of sand, a piece of manzanita/malaysian/mopani wood and probably a few floating plants and maybe a couple of anubias or something tied to the wood. When I get my discus I plan to get at least 4" in size. I have a sponge filter and a Magnum Pro 350 bio-wheel canister filter. I currently have a 10 gallon setup with a male betta, albino BN pleco and 5 Pristella tetras. The tetras are outgrowing the 10 gallon and I had thought I could use them as starter fish in the 55 gallon. My 10 gallon cycled well with the tetras and it is a planted tank. I did not use any ammonia methods to cycle.....just the plants and tetras. If there is a post I am overlooking please point me in the right direction. Some of the posts and stickies I have been reading are realllly old so I don't know if things have changed since they were added. Sorry to ramble on here.....just looking for some pointers on cycling the tank : )
Thanks!!
Kim

[Orange Crush]

A fishless cycle is the way to go (pure ammonia from ACE Hardware is great). You can use tetras to cycle your tank but then you will have broken QT by contaminating the tank with whatever bacteria/virus/parasites the tetras have. The idea is to have a cycled tank that is free from stuff that could make your discus sick/dead.

[DonMD]

A fishless cycle is the way to go (pure ammonia from ACE Hardware is great). You can use tetras to cycle your tank but then you will have broken QT by contaminating the tank with whatever bacteria/virus/parasites the tetras have. The idea is to have a cycled tank that is free from stuff that could make your discus sick/dead.

+1. I'd also add that all that stuff in your tank doesn't make any difference. And even though those posts you read are old, they are still accurate. Chemistry hasn't changed. The one new variant I might mention are the purepond or pureaquarium bioballs. I noticed at NADA's convention that they were in all the tanks, they may help accelerate the cycle. Good luck.