Hmm. I've never heard of that stuff, but I'm sure it's pretty much the same thing... there are lots of similar type products out there. A little bit of rotten eggs never hurt anyone. hahaha.
Below is the link on cycling for you... let me know if you have any questions about it.
As far as your tank goes, if you are going for natural, you can do research on what the natural habitat looks like for the tetras. Possibly somewhere that describes how to create an amazon biotope like: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/amazon.php

If all else fails, and you want the look of real plants without the fuss, you can always go with something like what liveaquaria.com sells.
New Aquarium Setup

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Phishie

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."