I believe/hope that Mark P will chime in here.  He has some good links and articles.  For example, cycling is highly arguable as being necessary.  There are ways to shorten cycling.  Water parameters... there are way too many opinions especially when it comes to the "trace" elements!

Check out the back of the WMAS card, also, do a search on water parameters.  Other things like lighting, filtration, and flow can affect your chemistry too!

Good luck!

Seems that this has probably been discussed at length by some of us, and though it certainly is a good idea, I have noticed how some questions get answered over and over again, almost incessantly! I cannot count all the times that exact same topics have been brought up by different people, often within days. Why would people choose to laboriously read through an entire FAQ thread to find if it answered their question, when they can simply ask the question in their very own thread and have it personally answered within minutes? Why?

And if we were to place more info in FAQ threads, how would we decide among the differing opinions, alternatives and viewpoints? Maybe it's not all bad that the MB is like an interactive library, collectively comprised of all our minds?

After all, we are the "Collective" and "Resistance is futile."