My New 75Gallon ... opinions please

[shakiigrrl]

HI all,
Ok so I finally picked up a bigger tank.  Leaving my 20g behind soon my fish will be so happy...  So I picked up a 75g tonight used with fine white sand which is perfect for my liking.  Now I do have a few questions to start on the right foot. 
I am going to pick up a new canister filter for the tank tomorrow and was wondering which one I should get and for what size. 

Now for the cycling part...what is the best way for me to do this...there are so many opinions online I don't know which way to go....some say 48 hours and then you can add a couple of little touch guys in for a while to help other places I have read to cycle for weeks...what do you guys think?

The fish I currently have and will probably transfer over are a mix of community fish...(guppy, danios, rasboras, loaches, cory, bolivian rams...) now ideally I wanted to start a cichlid tank but that will wait...I will probably end up slowly getting rid of the community in the future and transition towards cichlids, we will see....

So all your opinions for me setting up this 75gallon tank and welcomed...

Thanks in advance to all who will take the time to help out...

[robt18]

Welcome to the big leagues!

If you're going with that mix of fish...

Eheim canister would be your best bet, try and Eheim PRO 3 2073 (up to 90 gallons). Great water flow and tons of room for biomedia to keep your tank healthy and stable!

Also for that mix of fish, if you want to have danios in there, they're some of the toughest fish going. I would say set up the tank, fill it, get the filter running, give it a few days, then throw in a dozen or so and leave them for a month. They'll cycle your tank and after a few weeks you can start stocking!