another newbie, advice on fishless cycle please

[aqua10joe]

Hi so glad I found this aquarium forum, been poddling along on my own with aquariums for a while now and it gets a bit tedious and expensive learning by your mistakes.
Just indulged myself with a Juwel 190 corner tank. And after much deliberation, do I try Marine, African Cichlid etc. Have decided on a planted community tank but with a leaning towards the less aggressive Cichlids.
Anyway after doing a fish cycle on my first tank and losing a few fish in the process I'm thinking of going down the Ammonia cycle route, using a mixture of bacteria from my established tank and a commercial bacteria product such as Evolution /aqua pure or Stress Zyme. I say these because I've already got them. By the way I've already planted the tank.
I've 2 questions. Will the ammonia affect the plants and am I right to use a mixture of natural and commercial bacteria ??

 

[dalto]

You can use lower doses of ammonia if you are worried about your tanks.

Honestly, the seeded material from your other tank is probably an order of magnitude more effective than any bacteria in a bottle product. I would not add any of those if you have seeded media. Moreover, if you are adding a product with heterotrophic bacteria it will compete with the real autotrophic bacteria you are adding.