| Welcome to Fish Lore Jake. Is there any way possible for you to get some filter media (a piece of sponge and or even a cup of gravel in a mesh bag will help) from a friend that has an aquarium? If so, you could "seed" your tank by adding it into your filter. This will really speed up the process. If so, make sure the tank it comes from is disease free. Once you seed it you could add a pinch of flake fish food every day or use the pure ammonia. The bacteria in the sponge or gravel still has to have some food to survive. The food decays causing ammonia feeding the good bacteria and the cycle begins.
Too, if you cannot get filter media to seed your tank, instead of fish food you could just add a shrimp, put it in a mesh bag and place it into the tank. It's less messy than regular flake or pellet fish food.
Best of luck. Hope you can share some pictures along the way.
Happy July 4th! | 
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