The reason it gets so much attention is that good biofiltration is absolutely critical to the health of our fish, but getting the bacterial cultures up and going can be a pain. In theory, it should be possible to cycle a tank without fish in it, by adding ammonia from a chemical source, at a rate similar to what you would expect from the anticipated fish load. His key points are that bacterial growth is optimal at 86 - 95 degrees Fahrenheit, that adding 3 to 5 drops of ammonia per day to the tank will provide sufficient food for the bacteria, and that a tank should fully cycle in two to four weeks. Separately, in the spring of 1996 I had tried experimentally cycling a filter on a ten gallon tank with household ammonia. At the end of that interval, the filter was able to process a quarter teaspoon of household ammonia per day which is roughly the bioload I had calculated for a large, well fed goldfish.
Household ammonia is primarily a dilute solution of ammonium hydroxide.
As such it is a strong base. Added to tap water, particularly a weakly buffered tap water like mine, will sky-rocket the pH level up past the eights, nines, and beyond. I was dumping expensive Fritz Zyme into an extremely basic solution, killing the bacteria I wanted, and then ignorantly blaming Fritz for making an inferior product. Apparently there are bacteria that breakdown the vinegar even faster than the ammonia. Or just use a few drops of household ammonia per day, check the pH, and do water changes when it gets above 8.