You are on the right track for planning to do fishless nitrogen cycle first.
Tetra SafeStart is a form of live bacteria product. Most of us have had good experience with it, while a few claim have had poor results from it. Whether or not you decide to use it, you should be prepared to cycle it normally and only see this product as a jump start for your cycle.
If you have access to an established tank, by getting a piece of filter media from that tank can also allow you to heavy seeding your new fish tank. It might have the same effect as Tetra SafeStart whch will give you a jump start on the cycling.
It is quite simple to cycle a fish tank, but it takes lots of patients as it might take weeks for it to complete.
Have you read this article on fishless nitrogen cycle?
http://petskeepersguide.com/fishless-cyc...gen-cycle/
It pretty much explains everything.
If you decide to use Tetra SafeStart, you need to get a bottle rated at least twice your tank size. Dump it all in and let it sit for at least half a day before you add very little ammonia (must be pure ammonia in this case). Because the live bacteria will start to die if without a food source for more than 24 hours.
Just use API master kit to test your water. It is the most common aquarium water test kit used by most of us.
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