What is Fishless Cycling?
Fishless cycling is a method of maturing (or cycling) a new biological filter using chemical means rather than adding fish. Maturation, or cycling, is simply the process of growing beneficial bacteria on the filter. You do this by providing a pollution source for the bacteria to use for energy, and then waiting several weeks for the bacterial colony to reach full size. When all of the bacteria have grown the tank will be free of ammonia and nitrite, nitrate will have started to build up, and the filter is termed mature, or cycled.
