The only problem I had with the fish food method is that it is very messy and you have all the rotting fish food or rotting fish or shrimp (if you use that method) to remove and the tank to clean thoroughly before adding the fish. With the ammonia method your tank is pristine other than needing a 50% water change with treated water to freshen the water. That is all I did. But I use Bio-Spira or TurboStart 700 almost exclusively now. It is expensive but failproof totally.

Rose