There is more than one 'right way'... or should I say 'way that works'.
Let's rule out some fiction:
Old / aged tank water does nothing. The bacteria you are trying to get started aren't pelagic, they live on wet surfaces (sand, filter media, bio balls etc...) not in the water column.
All the petstore 'boxed' products are there to make money, not always help you out. Just because it says it will cycle the tank for you in a dose, it won't really.
Step back and look at the basics, then go from there:
The term "cycled" just means you have an established aerobic bacteria colony large enough to break down the ammonia (waste) from the given biological population (fish).
If you put in sand, old filters etc... that will have bacteria colonies established, it will help. As soon as you move stuff like that in, you need to continue feeding it ammonia (whether that be through fish or artifically adding ammonia). If you do not feed the colony, it will die. Also remember you need to treating it as a living creature (which it is). Don't give it a drastic temp of pH swing. Acclimate as needed.
The colony is continually growing/shinking directly related to the ammonia output of the biological population. If you add a small colony of bacteria, then you need to feed it so it grows. A safe way to do that is to daily add ammonia chloride. The colony will consume it. Daily water test prior to adding ammonia. If it's there, you don't need to add. Get it to a point where you figure out the right amount to add so it's all consumed by the next day. That is the sign of a stable aerobic bacteria colony. Instead of adding ammonia, start adding fish (slowly). At first, the colony will die off bit (which is good, better to have not enough fish to support the colony rather than verwhelm the colony with too many fish). As you slowly add fish, the colony will grow.
If you want to use fish to cycle the tank, run the system empty enough that is does an ammonia spike and drop off to zero on it's own. Then slowly add fish, letting the ammonia come up and go down before adding the next batch.
Let's rule out some fiction:
Old / aged tank water does nothing. The bacteria you are trying to get started aren't pelagic, they live on wet surfaces (sand, filter media, bio balls etc...) not in the water column.
All the petstore 'boxed' products are there to make money, not always help you out. Just because it says it will cycle the tank for you in a dose, it won't really.
Step back and look at the basics, then go from there:
The term "cycled" just means you have an established aerobic bacteria colony large enough to break down the ammonia (waste) from the given biological population (fish).
If you put in sand, old filters etc... that will have bacteria colonies established, it will help. As soon as you move stuff like that in, you need to continue feeding it ammonia (whether that be through fish or artifically adding ammonia). If you do not feed the colony, it will die. Also remember you need to treating it as a living creature (which it is). Don't give it a drastic temp of pH swing. Acclimate as needed.
The colony is continually growing/shinking directly related to the ammonia output of the biological population. If you add a small colony of bacteria, then you need to feed it so it grows. A safe way to do that is to daily add ammonia chloride. The colony will consume it. Daily water test prior to adding ammonia. If it's there, you don't need to add. Get it to a point where you figure out the right amount to add so it's all consumed by the next day. That is the sign of a stable aerobic bacteria colony. Instead of adding ammonia, start adding fish (slowly). At first, the colony will die off bit (which is good, better to have not enough fish to support the colony rather than verwhelm the colony with too many fish). As you slowly add fish, the colony will grow.
If you want to use fish to cycle the tank, run the system empty enough that is does an ammonia spike and drop off to zero on it's own. Then slowly add fish, letting the ammonia come up and go down before adding the next batch.
