Cycling

[bigbert22fishiz]

What is the fastest way to cycle my fish tank?

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Get some cycled media from an already cycled tank.

Cycling is all about growing a set of bacteria that completes the nitrogen cycle (ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate). This bacteria exists everywhere, but it takes a while to grow a colony of this bacteria by seeding the media from the air.

But if you can start with even just a small established colony, all you have to do is increase the size of that colony.

Supposedly, fish stores sell bottles that contain the needed bacteria to try to get your media seeded quicker. But I don't know how good they really are. Generally, the bacteria has a short shelf life (if you don't keep it fed it dies). So I don't know what manufactures have done to avoid the bacteria dying before you get it to your tank.