When setting up a new aquarium, we always aim to create a healthy and thriving environment for our fish. The cycling process is an integral part of creating that ecosystem. Cycling your aquarium involves creating the biological filter of beneficial bacteria that allow your aquarium to sustain life by breaking down waste materials, such as ammonia and nitrate. This article will discuss the steps involved in correctly cycling a freshwater aquarium.

It’s is one of those things. We add fish to an aquarium and want to interact with them. The only way we can do that in all honesty is by feeding them. So it’s no surprise that one of the most common problems in the hobby occurs from overfeeding or the excess food produced as a result of overfeeding to be specific.

Very quickly it was apparent to me that I needed to keep these animals in an appropriate sized aquarium due to their nature and overall size they got and luckily enough for me I scored my first "big" aquarium not long after I started looking.

Bottled bacteria is a good way of speeding up a cycle for a new aquarium (please see cycling section) using these products can shorten a cycle down from upwards of 6 weeks to as little as 3-7 days. If using a bottled bacteria to cycle a fresh aquarium, please note although your aquarium is cycled and ready for wet pets, it is still a very immature system, so slowly adding fish is still the best option.