Do you know what temps you're running in your cloning area? Keeping it a few degrees warmer than what you'd normally grow at will help root development.
When you cut your clones slice the side about a half inch up, dip in the gel and let it hang out for 5 minutes. Then pop it in your cube and don't fuck with it! Your tugging method may work to tell if there are roots but it can also rip off teeny tiny little starter roots thus slowing you down, or even killing your clone. I'd expect you to see roots poking through after about 2 weeks and then they're ready to rock!
Adding that cloning solution to your water will only help speed up and strengthen up your progress. Good luck dude! On my next grow we'll do some side by side cloning and all get killer results. Sota can join too! If that fails we mail clones! Hahaha!