The blix is not very toxic. It may look like wine, but don't drink it. I've heard it's concentrated plant food when mixed, but the silver in it after processing is considered a heavy metal. It stains a bit though. The developer has a slight odor, but its much better than the typical acetic acid scent you find in B+W darkrooms and it dissipates quickly. I find no problems using it in a not well ventilated darkroom of small size. The traditional chemistry would not work for developing in color, and would be poor for printing b+W. Just get the Kodak developer-replenisher and the blix. The tetenal stuff isn't worth it.
You can use an amber colored filter, not a red one. It will effect the results (says kodak.) I haven't tried it yet though I have the filter.
I use normal tray development for 2 minutes followed by a blix of some undetermined amount of time around 2-3 minutes for a print or less if it's just a test strip.