1st timer help

[The Old Mud]

I was given a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft (180 gallon) aquarium. I would like to set it up in my office as a freshwater aquarium. I would like it to be simple with native northern species. (small perch, bluegills,) I talked to to local DNR office about keeping those fish and they said I could do it as long as I didn't return them to the lake.

Unfortunately it didn't come with any of the goodies (filter, sand, air pump, etc)

I'm interested in peoples advice about how to set it up.

Any thoughts about what I should buy would be helpful.

Thanks in advance

The Old Mud

[Judge]

Hello TOM and welcome to FTF. Sounds like an interesting idea/project. Anything worth doing is surely worth setting up right. I would suggest first and foremost to view our video tutorial on Cycling. It can be found in the Site suggestions, comments, feedback section of the forum. You can also read a wonderfully explanatory article on the subject titled "Cycling for Dummies, written by a Dummy". Your pet shops will try their best to tell you that you should use (torture) fish to cycle with but it is not the preferred method by all the experts and is not any quicker.
As far as set ups go we also have a video in the same location as the other about new setups and what you will need.
Again, we welcome you and look forward to hearing more about your progress.