librarygirl
Look It Up
Right, don't add ammonia with fish! The fish waste and leftover fish food is your ammonia source.
There are really no shortcuts to cycling a tank with fish. Adding seeded material is the best way to introduce bacteria into the tank (if you know someone with a tank or ask around at various fish stores for some gravel from one of their tanks or filter media; you then also risk adding any potential diseases they may have into your tank). The bottled bacteria products are hit and miss and most don't work and if they seem to, they can result in an unstable biofilter which can crash on you down the road. You added the SafeStart which didn't work so....maybe that answers the question
Other than obtaining seeded material there really isn't anything else to do but daily testing and water changes as needed. It can take a while. If you can't get your hands on a seeded sponge this place sells "active" sponges online. They've been hit and miss with members but they take care of their tanks at least. Make sure if you do get one it's one of the "active" ones (it will say it on the page) and add it into your tank attaching it to an airline and air pump. Don't remove your current filter and continue testing your tank for a while and do pwc as needed until it's fully cycled.
