Brackish set up

Question
Hi chip,
I recently bought a 55 gal. tank and want to make it brackish for cichlids. problem is i know NOTHING about cycling. i was wondering if you could explain how to start and whats happening during the cycling process of my tank?

Answer
Hi Rob, Depending on what type of cichlids you have usually you can just do a freshwater set up. It is a lot easier and doesn't require as much effort or time. When you set the tank up fill it up with water and put a tap water conditioner in it (it will tell you how much to put on the bottle) then wait about 15 minutes and put some kind of cycle booster in the tank (they have a brand called "cycle" and it works great) and let it run for about 3 days and it should be in good shape for your cichlids. If you have any more questions about it let me know. And since it is a new tank i would change about 10 percent of the water weekly for the first couple months then do about 20 percent every two weeks after that. Good Luck!