The only thing that sounds odd ot me is.. if your ammonia is getting over 4ppm you're going to kill bacteria... this is how cycled tanks sometimes crash... a sudden surge in ammonia.. and might be why its just not cycling for you.. are you keeping a log of water tests? if so posting them would help alot.. otherwise test your water daily and keep track. there are alot of cycling methods out there that are fishless, and imo they all work just fine... try dosing a small amount of ammonia daily vs a large dose every few days... keep your ammonia between 1-3ppm and your tank should cycle fast... I found water changes will hurt a cycle more often then not.. so unless your nitrates are climbing in the 80 range... don't do them.. just make sure to do a big one before adding fish to drop it down to the 20ppm range and less ideally.. I also never run my tanks higher then 80 ( there are species out there that prefer higher temps, but i don't own any of them) .. heres why. oxygen and warm water do not go hand in hand.. so excessively high temps aren't going to encourage oxygen getting to your bacteria colony... your useing submerged media, if you where implimenting a wet/dry system i'de prolly not bother with it.. but i'de run the tank temp where you intend to run it once fish are added.
don't add chemicals.. don't add a bunch of other junk. give your media optimal room to grow/develop/ect... and in 5 days a tank should be in the nitrite phase, and showing nitrates... and ammonia should be declineing. I would second plants if your intention is to have them in the tank anyways... they will only help.
It's been years.. but the old shrimp technique is cheap and involves no chemicals... essentially to toss a peice of fast rotting food into the tank... this will give you the ammonia to boost your cycle, and bacteria flourish in the air.. I've never been a big fan of bacteria in a bottle, but tossing an old used filter cartridge ( still nasty sludgey and wet!) from a "clean" tank is worth its weight in gold. I did this to prime my 120's sump and had 0 cycling issues.
At most use the bacteria in a bottle to help add a more diverse bacteria colony.. but the rest of the chemicals are unneccisary... if you find your PH is consistantly low I would suggest a bag of crushed coral in your sump vs the powders ect to buffer... its much more stable ( safer!) and and will not flux your PH once you figure out how much you need.
