yes for sure, the bac needs established so that the waste from the clowns wont register as free ammonia, common ways of doing this:
get a filter from a current reef tank that's all old and use that...instant cycling as filter media can handle quite the bioload, if aged.
set up a whole new system using only empty tank, plastic or no décor, and some type of filtration media that will create much better surface area than without. you then use dr tims, and straight liquid ammonia to specifically cycle that setup per instructions. when you can add ammonia up to 3 ppm and then retest in 24 hours to get zero, that shows the new surface area is active and ready for fish breeding, at least as many can produce 3ppm safely.
each cycle request has a specific action, measure, and start/stop time so that no guessing is required.