Way back when - in the days of under gravel filters and bubblers, before live rock, argonite sand, two part, or dosing - we popped out tanks with brine shrimp - damsels - raw fish or shrimp. Anything that would put a little ammonia into the water. There were no bacterial additives or accelerants - Somehow our tanks always cycled and in about the same time amount of time it takes today. You see, the nitrifying bacteria you need to establish are autotrophic, meaning get their carbon from in-organic sources. These bacteria are slow growers. They take a while to colonize, but once they do, they are literally a million times more efficient at converting ammonia through nitrite to nitrate - and their populations are more stable as they are not dependent on organic carbon sources. They are not so prone to boom and bust like heterotrophic bacteria populations used in the bacterial additives are.
My point is, you can use the bacterial additives if you want. I doubt they help much - but they also are not likely to hurt anything.
I can honestly say that in 50 years have never seen a tank fail to cycle even when no bacterial additives are used. Just be patient, use enough initial organic material to get your ammonia up and test. You couldn't stop the cycle if you wanted to.
On the other point - damsels are a great fish. Beautiful color - very hardy. If you only put one or two in your tank, they pick on other fish. If you put in a dozen or so - they scrap a little with each other but pretty much leave everything else alone. Plus, in numbers they're great at pest control. I've got about a dozen blue devils in my main frag tank along with a couple of tangs - No way I could keep (or afford) so many wrasses together - they're really a great fish.
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