I'll agree that it seems a little strange to be ladling ammonia into a fish tank, but as NJ D. points out it is chemically the same stuff as the fish are putting in themselves: NH3 and NH4.
The concentrations available may vary so everyone has to work out their own dosing. You need plain simple ammonia, no detergents or fragrances or extras -- if you give "clear ammonia" a shake you'll see some bubbles that will clear in a couple of seconds, if it suds up like dishsoap its no good. Soap, windex, all that sort of thing, is highly toxic to fish. You want to put enough ammonia in to get the concentration up to about 5ppm. In my case, on my 30g, this was about .5 tspn. Retest the ammonia each day and add enough to boost back up to 5ppm. You probably won't need to add any the first few days, but after a week or so you'll be back to the original dose. This is the ammonia spike. You'll start seeing nitrItes at this same time. Opinions vary on whether to maintain the dosage at this point, or to cut it in half. Continue until the nitrItes also can zero themselves out in a day and your done.
One good size water change (say 75%) and you're ready to stock. One virtue of fishless is that you have a fully grown colony, so you can stock fully right away -- I added everyone over the course of about a week. I've had one death so far, and I think it was aggression rather than chemistry.
Heat is good for this -- set your heater for the temperature you plan on keeping the tank at, or even a little higher. The metabolism, and growth, of the bacteria will be slower at cooler temps.
The bacteria live
on everything -- they don't live free floating in the water. Water changes won't hurt, just like tank water won't help. Some gravel from a cycled tank (just the top layer, maybe the first half-inch) will help. These bacteria are aerobic, so burying them will kill them -- seed gravel goes in last. You don't need a whole lot. Mature filter media will also help. There are two different types of bacteria, one that handles the ammonia conversion and another that handles the nitrIte conversion. The nitrIte-to-nitrAte bacteria may suffer during the first spike, so a second seeding at the beginning of the nitrIte spike may also help speed things along. I think I saw a thread earlier where someone reported finishing in a little over two weeks -- I took a month. It varies, but the seeding will help.
8.6 is rock hard water, so it will limit you somewhat. It seems easier to naturally increase the pH than it does to lower it. You can use chemicals, but the local consensus is that they need constant attention and maintenance and are prone to instability. Fish can live
somewhat outside their native range -- having the pH bounce up and down (like at water changes) is bad for them.
Some folks will say that the fish are adaptable, but I dislike asking them to stretch too far. For one thing, your not going to see the coloration and behavior as well if the fish aren't comfortable. You don't have to be spot on, but you should be close. There is a difference between tolerating and thriving.
I personally am attracted to the biotope idea, other folks just want a nice community and that's fine too. I try not to beat the drum too loudly, but occasionally I like to give it a thump. One of the things that originally attracted me to it was my extreme water -- my tap is pH 6 or so (near the low end of the low test, hard to be sure). People in the middle can do whatever they want and most fish will be fine. I can't keep hardwater fish without making adjustments for them. Same for you and softwater fish.
Mongabay gives nices synopses of what fish live in different types of water around the world. Feel free to mix and match as you see fit, but you'd probably be best served looking at Central America, India/Burma, Zaire, and maybe Australia. The Rift Lake cichlids are very beautiful fish but are generally larger, aggressive and territorial, and are generally not mixed with other types of fish. There are some smaller ones and some relatively peaceful ones, but they'll need some research. The Amazon and SE Asia are generally too soft and acidic (and, unfortunately, are home to a lot of the smaller more common fish).
Fishbase.org has the skinny on pretty much any fish you'll ever come across, including native temp and water hardness ranges. Its a science site. The
findex at NotCatFish.com is also a good place to check.
