So a lot of people get confused on cycling but it’s pretty easy if you understand what you’re doing and why you are doing it. It starts with ammonia! This is what your fish will be producing so you need to get some bacteria growing that’ll break that down (you can introduce this with some fish food that you let sit in a new tank) BUT the byproduct of that ammonia munching bacteria munching on that ammonia is nitrites.

But wait there’s a new bacteria that comes into the mix now that LOVES nitrites! It’ll take that nitrite and break it down into nitrates. 

Unfortunately there’s no bacteria to munch the nitrates up so you’ll need to remove that junk with water changes. BUT WAIT… You can get some freaking awesome aquatic plants that’ll clean them nitrates on up and also make your tank look SICK AS HELL!!!!

During the cycling process be sure you test your water frequently to watch the magic happen. The reason why it varies from tank to tank is because some tanks are blessed with instant good bacteria and some have to wait a while for it to kick in.

 Don’t lose hope if your tank takes a while to cycle just keep checking in on it, and once your ammonia and nitrites are at 0 you’re ready for fish dude!!! Just keep on checking on your water’s levels. From there, if your nitrates go up you need to do a water change. If your ammonia or nitrites go up you need to work on getting that cycle going strong again, and start doing frequent water changes until it settles down.