Thank you for this thread--very informative, and it makes me feel less like an animal abuser for doing what I've been doing (successfully!) for several decades.
The only topic where I find myself differing from a few of the other posters here is water changes. Rather than doing large changes once or twice a week during cycling, I prefer to do 15-20% changes every other day. Over the course of a week or so, the same amount of water is being turned over, only in smaller chunks. This is based on nothing more than my own experience and bias. I just believe that smaller, incremental, changes to the environment (water temp, chemistry, etc.) are easier for the fish to tolerate. I do a full master-kit test every day, and if anything looks out of whack, I respond accordingly.