I started my 29 gallon with a bacteria starter kit, and had no issues. I also bought some cheap zebra fish to act as suicide fish for their source of ammonia. Not one of them died and my levels never spiked. in the end, I just sold the zebras back to the LFS. But you need to buy a good test kit to keep checking the levels of nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia.
It also seems like you need to educate yourself as to how this cycle works.
-Fish create waste.
-waste creates ammonia
-Bacteria breaks down the ammonia into Nitrites
-Another type of bacteria breaks down the nitrites into nitrates.
-Water changes removes most of the nitrates.
This is why people like to use cocktail shrimp because any decaying matter creates ammonia, which starts the cycling process.
I wouldn't just wait a week and add fish to see if the water is ready. you should TEST TEST TEST!
When your nitrites equal zero, your ammonia equals zero and your nitrates are below 20, then your tank is ready for fish.