Help me Cycle my 40g?

[craig22]

i recently bought a 40g tank... and i know i cant just throw some fish in there and they will live... im planning on a few angels.... some blue gouramis... plecos... etc
and i was wondering what i have to do before i throw em all in there. im planning on a sand bottom with live plants... Help me please!!

 

[canarsie11]

i recently bought a 40g tank... and i know i cant just throw some fish in there and they will live... im planning on a few angels.... some blue gouramis... plecos... etc
and i was wondering what i have to do before i throw em all in there. im planning on a sand bottom with live plants... Help me please!!

You can cycle with fish if you want

 

[craig22]

...that doesnt help me in any way hahaha... i need to know step by step what to do... im noob... buut thanks for your time

 

[canarsie11]

...that doesnt help me in any way hahaha... i need to know step by step what to do... im noob... buut thanks for your time

Okay what do you want to do?

Cycle with or without fish?

Better yet do you know what cycling is?

 

[craig22]

im not exactly sure what cycling is, i thought it was prepping your tank for fish??
but i want to know what i have to do with my tank before i put fish in it because i dont want to hurt them

 

[yhbae]

If you have the patient to wait for another month or so without any fishes in your tank, fishless cycling is the way to go. There are many thread in this forum that talks about this, including this one:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...ishless+cycling

Having said that, the best way is to find a friend who already maintains an aquarium and transfer some media from his/her filter into yours. Taking some gravel would help as well...

Most people go through the painful cycling for their first tank, then the rest of their tanks are relatively painless to cycle for this reason...

 

[craig22]

aright ill read up on it... thanks

 

[mwm]

Im his friend.. anyways i have a acmini running on a 5gallon could i run that in his tank for a week or so and im giving his some astablished sand the 5g tank has been running for months and months..will this work?