Well I just went to PetSmart, it's 5 minutes from me by car so I figured why not.
Every time I've gone there they've had ONE bag of CaribSea crushed coral for $12.99. And tonight......it was gone. I asked if they had any more and they said no. They did have a bag of CaribSea Argonite, which looked like little shells too, but I was't sure if it was good or bad so I didn't want to get it (and it was a bit more expensive at $15.99). I know the PetCo near my work doesn't have it because I checked a few weeks ago. I'll have to wait until the weekend now to try to a another PetSmart and PetCo. Hmph
Then I figured I'd try my luck with with the sales person. She saw me looking at the fish and asked if I need help (erm, yes I should say so!). So I told her I was trying to cycle without fish and it's taking a while so I just wanted to take a look at their fish until I could get my own. Then of course she tried to sell me some sort of tetra that was "hardy to cycle with." I explained to her I had tried fish and it didn't work out but that I thought it was a PH issue and not an ammonia issue but that I didn't want to put any more fish through the process. I then asked if she could sell me a cup of gravel from one of their tanks and she said no and then tried to sell me a 5 lb bag of gravel off the shelf.
I was seriously tempted to just buy a live plant or something from one of their tanks to see if that would do anything but the last thing I probably need is to add the complication of a live plant.
So, now I'm back to waiting for the weekend to see if I can hunt down some coral and I may be able to get some seeded gravel from another member on here, just waiting to see for sure.
I swear the universe is against me having this tank.