Yep. I've done it several times now, it's called fishless cycling, basically you establish the cycle with store bought pure ammonia. Then you can add the full fishload of all but the most sensitive fish. As an example i just fishless cycled the tank in my sig, added a pair of bolivian rams and a group of cardinal tetras without a single casualty and the fish were not exposed to any ammonia or nitrite. I'll hustle up a link for you in a sec.
Edit: ok, here are the links. The first one is the original article which does a great job of explaining how it works. The second one describes an improvement on the original method, i recommend you use the recipe from the 2nd link where you bring your initial ammonia levels to 5ppm on the first day instead of adding an arbitrary number of drops as the first link describes.
original fishless cycle article
improved fishless cycle article
If you have any questions just ask, several of us have experience with this cycling method.
I heard that after running a new tank empty for a few weeks you hav to add a few hardy fish at first to help the filter. Is there a way of getting the tank ready without adding fish. This is because i am planning to add some fish that need good water quality. 
