Cycleing Questions

What are the essentials to start cycleing a tank?
I would like to start cycleing my tank as soon as possible but I don't have the money to buy allt he equipment that is required for fish and stuff.
Right now I have a 55 gallon tank, lights and refractometer are on the way.
Im guessing the other stuff I would need to start cycleing is Live rock, live sand, test kits, anythign else im missing?

 

You would not need the lights for cycling. I would set the tank up as t will be running so f you are going to use a sump you would want tank, sump, at least 50-60lbs of rock, your sand, salt, RO Water either from an RO unit you buy or from buying it at a LFS. If I could give you one piece of advice it would be to not rush it if funds are low. Too many people do not do the set up correctly and t comes back to bite them later.. Not using RO water s normally where I see people go wrong.

So in short I would have min:

Tank
Sump (recommended) or your canister filter (not recomended)
Heater
Sand
Rock
Salt
RO Water
Test Kits
refractometer
Skimmer is debateable --- some people use them others don't. Personally I did.

Hope this helps.