After I Purchase My Tank...

Im guessing the tank is new so all you have todo is give it a wipe with a clean damp cloth that has never been used with any chems. If you are doing a fishless or fishey(stay away from) cycle you dont *have* to have some gravel from a established tank. If you dont it may take longer but you will soon get the bacteria you need.

I've used white vinegar and water to clean my tanks after buying them works great otherwise a good hot water rinse should be enough. If you're going to fishless you'll definately need a primer of some sort. I tried on my first tank with out anything to prime it and it took alittle over a month. You can order Bio Spira online now. That stuff has a great reputation for insta cycling a tank. You could look into that. Otherwise you'd need some filter goo or floss to get it started. Good luck hope it goes well for you.
-Neo Sithlord

He means floss from an established tank. That way there's some bacterial culture already on it. Just put it in your filter with the new media and the culture will spread fairly quickly.


But wait...


You didn't think he meant dental floss.... did you?

Sometimes your LFS will give you some. Where are you from? Maybe there's even someone on here willing to donate to the cause.

I should add you don't NEED it. It just helps it go faster. You can ask a LFS (local fish store) for some thing. You might not be able to get anything though. When I started out in this hobby last year I couldn't find anyplace that would help me out with some filter floss or gravel. Then again none of them even knew what a fishless cycle was. A big thing a year ago was that I had to deal with bio spira going off the market so Marine Land could grow more to meet demand. I still say look into ordering some of that as it does have a really GOOD reputation and can insta cycle a tank. I only say what I do because I remember what it was like fishless cycling my tank for over a month then doing a minor cycle with fish because I got tired of waiting. If you can get gravel I'd say put it under the flow of the filter. If you get filter floss add it into the back of the filter in the well so it can spread to the new stuff you use to actually filter the tank. Now that I'm more awake I hope I'm making more sence then before. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you can get more help then I did when I started out. I think if you just give us the state you live in we might be able to at least lead you to a good store that can help.
-Neo Sithlord

Pay attention to pH. Especially if you've got really soft water like we've got around here you're going to need to watch pH and probably buffer your tank with a little bit of crushed coral or laterite in the filter while you're fishless cycling.