Creating or reviving a home aquarium
When creating a home aquarium, you want to develop a balanced ecosystem within the tank, which takes time. Rushing through this with the enthusiasm of establishing a new aquarium usually results in disappointment and fish loss. Being patient and letting your aquarium/ecosystem form and mature is essential to enjoying your aquarium and having fewer difficulties.

Creating or reviving a home aquarium
When creating a home aquarium, you want to develop a balanced ecosystem within the tank, which takes time. Rushing through this with the enthusiasm of establishing a new aquarium usually results in disappointment and fish loss. Being patient and letting your aquarium/ecosystem form and mature is essential to enjoying your aquarium and having fewer difficulties.
In a well-balanced tank, bacteria will convert the harmful ammonia into the less toxic Nitrite, and the bacteria will use the ammonia as a food source. There are no established bacteria in a fresh tank to accomplish this, and the ammonia builds up to the point where the toxicity kills your new fish.

Bacteria Farming – Building bacteria takes time, but there are a few things you can do to speed up the process. You may buy products like Quickstart, which aid in the establishment of bacteria. QuickStart contains the bacteria in a dormant form in the container and activates when put to the aquarium to aid in the start-up process. Another option is to use seeded media, which is media that has already been colonized with existing bacteria and will often come from an aquarium with a well-balanced ecosystem.
When we say balanced, we mean that there are enough bacteria to cope with the waste/ammonia created, and in the early phases of a new tank, time is required for the bacteria to colonize, reproduce, and develop to a level where it can manage the waste.

Too Many Fish Too Soon – Resist the urge to acquire all of the fish you want for the tank at once, as this will surely put your aquarium out of balance, as the bacteria will not be at the proper level to manage the massive spike in Ammonia. Begin with one or two little fish and give the bacteria enough time to populate to handle the rise in ammonia, then buy a few more and repeat the procedure until you have all of the fish you want for your aquarium. It is a lengthy procedure, but it is more fulfilling, and you will not be disappointed by dead and dying fish.
In the preceding section, we discussed Ammonia, which is highly toxic to fish at high levels, and the bacteria that will consume it are known as Nitrosomonas. The result of this bacteria consuming the Ammonia is Nitrite, which is also toxic but less toxic than Ammonia and is similarly consumed by bacteria (Nitrospira), with the final stage being Nitrate, which is the safest point for fish. The Nitrification Process is the conversion of Ammonia from Nitrite to Nitrate. As more Ammonia converts to Nitrite and Nitrite to Nitrate, the levels of Nitrate build up. Changing the water will lessen the build-up, and the more frequently you change the water, the less Nitrate in the water – the less Nitrate in the water, the better the conditions and the growth of your fish.
When an aquarium can accomplish this, it is said to be balanced and cycled. The time it takes to cycle an aquarium varies depending on the technique employed and the temperature, with 25-30 degrees being the best temperature range for bacterial development.

There are four distinct ways to cycle your tank.
Cycling of fish: Fish cycling is the process of using a hardy type of fish and feeding and waste from that fish to generate/colonize bacteria in an aquarium. The disadvantage of this is that the fish used is generally not one that you want in your aquarium when the cycle is complete, and the fish does experience increases in Ammonia and Nitrite toxicity.

Fishless cycling is the addition of ammonia, either in a pure ammonia level or simply by adding a source of ammonia, which can include supplying fish food without any fish in the tank, which will decay into ammonia, and some even propose adding a prawn head, which will decay and generate ammonia.

Bacteria in a Bottle: As previously said, bacteria in a bottle is the use of products such as API QuickStart and Fluval Cycle to put bacteria into the aquarium by dosing the needed amount, and with QuickStart and Fluval Cycle, the bacteria is activated when added to the aquarium.

Using Seeded Media: This is where filter media is taken from an aquarium with an established cycle and the bacteria on the filter media is then transferred to the new home aquarium to colonize – as previously mentioned, whatever issues are in the tank from which the filter media is taken can also be transferred to your new tank.