New Tank Help please

[Serg]

Hi,
I currently just set up my new 55 gal fresh water tank, with a marineland canister filter, and its been running for 4 days. I want to make these a african cichlid tank once its ready to be stock, ive read about nitrogen cycles, and was wonderin what would be the best way and the first step to start it. I have a 10 gal tank with 5 small tropical fish and when i set that one up 4 months ago i had no idea of the cycle which resulted in 2 of the fishes dyng it seems to be fine now with all the fishes being good, i want to make sure i do this next one the right way, Any suggestions would help . Thank You

 

[Scottyhorse]

Well, you can do I silent cycle, or a traditional cycle. Basically you run the tank, and test the water with a liquid test kit until:

Ammonia : 0 ppm
NitrIte : 0 ppm
NitrAte : under 20 ppm

Then, you can slowly add fish. That is just the jest of it. Others will elaborate more.

 

[eduguy]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html

 

[Serg]

Thank you! I had bought the API quick start but not sure if I want to use that since I've read some mixed reviews on the results, I just purchased the ammonia from the hardware store , my tank started getting cloudy yesterday should I wait for the cloudiness to go away? I've heard that it usually goes away on its own as it normal for new tanks to have cloudy water