diff --git a/adapters/mongo_adapter.go b/adapters/mongo_adapter.go
index 45120a6..8e4c2af 100644
--- a/adapters/mongo_adapter.go
+++ b/adapters/mongo_adapter.go
@@ -22,13 +22,14 @@ func (adapter mongoAdapter) HasDatabase(ctx context.Context, database string) (b
 	return contains(databaseNames, database), err
 }
 
-func (adapter mongoAdapter) CreateDatabase(ctx context.Context, name string) error {
-	adapter.client.Database(name)
-	return nil
+func (adapter mongoAdapter) CreateDatabase(ctx context.Context, database string) error {
+	// create dummy data as mongo only creates databases if they contain something
+	_, err := adapter.client.Database(database).Collection("__internal-placeholder__").InsertOne(ctx, bson.D{{Key: "empty", Value: true}})
+	return err
 }
 
-func (adapter mongoAdapter) DeleteDatabase(ctx context.Context, name string) error {
-	return adapter.client.Database(name).Drop(ctx)
+func (adapter mongoAdapter) DeleteDatabase(ctx context.Context, database string) error {
+	return adapter.client.Database(database).Drop(ctx)
 }
 
 func (adapter mongoAdapter) HasDatabaseUserWithAccess(ctx context.Context, database string, username string) (bool, error) {
diff --git a/controllers/database_controller.go b/controllers/database_controller.go
index 36bb7d0..753b832 100644
--- a/controllers/database_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/database_controller.go
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ const databaseFinalizer = "finalizer.database.anbraten.github.io"
 // - https://pkg.go.dev/sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime@v0.7.2/pkg/reconcile
 func (r *DatabaseReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request) (ctrl.Result, error) {
 	log := r.Log.WithValues("database", req.NamespacedName)
+	log.Info("Reconciling database")
 
 	// Fetch the Database instance
 	database := &anbratengithubiov1alpha1.Database{}
@@ -54,58 +55,22 @@ func (r *DatabaseReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request) (c
 
 	db, err := r.getDatabaseConnection(ctx, database.Spec.Type)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Error(err, "Failed to detect and open database connection")
+		log.Error(err, "Failed to detect or open database connection")
 		return ctrl.Result{}, err
 	}
 
 	defer db.Close(ctx)
 
-	log.Info("Connected to database server")
-
-	hasDatabase, err := db.HasDatabase(ctx, database.Spec.Database)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Error(err, "Couldn't check if database exists")
-		return ctrl.Result{}, err
-	}
-
-	if !hasDatabase {
-		log.Info("Create new database: '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
-
-		err = db.CreateDatabase(ctx, database.Spec.Database)
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Error(err, "Can't create database")
-			return ctrl.Result{}, err
-		}
-	}
-
-	hasDatabaseUserWithAccess, err := db.HasDatabaseUserWithAccess(ctx, database.Spec.Database, database.Spec.Username)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Error(err, "Can't check if user has access to database")
-		return ctrl.Result{}, err
-	}
-
-	if !hasDatabaseUserWithAccess {
-		log.Info("Create new user '" + database.Spec.Username + "' with access to the database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
-
-		err = db.CreateDatabaseUser(ctx, database.Spec.Database, database.Spec.Username, database.Spec.Password)
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Error(err, "Can't create database user with access to database")
-			return ctrl.Result{}, err
-		}
-	}
-
-	log.Info("Created database and user with full access to it")
-
 	// Check if the Database instance is marked to be deleted, which is
 	// indicated by the deletion timestamp being set.
 	isDatabaseMarkedToBeDeleted := database.GetDeletionTimestamp() != nil
 	if isDatabaseMarkedToBeDeleted {
-		if contains(database.GetFinalizers(), databaseFinalizer) {
+		if controllerutil.ContainsFinalizer(database, databaseFinalizer) {
 			// Run finalization logic for databaseFinalizer. If the
 			// finalization logic fails, don't remove the finalizer so
 			// that we can retry during the next reconciliation.
-			if err := r.finalizeDatabase(ctx, log, database); err != nil {
-				log.Error(err, "Can't create finalizer for database")
+			if err := r.finalizeDatabase(ctx, log, db, database); err != nil {
+				log.Error(err, "Can't remove database and user")
 				return ctrl.Result{}, err
 			}
 
@@ -114,19 +79,52 @@ func (r *DatabaseReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request) (c
 			controllerutil.RemoveFinalizer(database, databaseFinalizer)
 			err := r.Update(ctx, database)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Error(err, "Can't remove finalizers of database")
 				return ctrl.Result{}, err
 			}
 		}
 		return ctrl.Result{}, nil
 	}
 
-	// Add finalizer for this CR
-	if !contains(database.GetFinalizers(), databaseFinalizer) {
-		if err := r.addFinalizer(ctx, log, database); err != nil {
-			log.Error(err, "Can't add finalizer to this custom-resource (database)")
+	// Add finalizer for this CR if necessary
+	if !controllerutil.ContainsFinalizer(database, databaseFinalizer) {
+		controllerutil.AddFinalizer(database, databaseFinalizer)
+		err = r.Update(ctx, database)
+		if err != nil {
+			return ctrl.Result{}, err
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Create database if necessary
+	hasDatabase, err := db.HasDatabase(ctx, database.Spec.Database)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Error(err, "Couldn't check if database '", database.Spec.Database, "' exists")
+		return ctrl.Result{}, err
+	} else if !hasDatabase {
+		log.Info("Creating new database '", database.Spec.Database, "'")
+
+		err = db.CreateDatabase(ctx, database.Spec.Database)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Error(err, "Can't create database")
+			return ctrl.Result{}, err
+		}
+
+		log.Info("Created database '", database.Spec.Database, "'")
+	}
+
+	// Create database user with full access if necessary
+	hasDatabaseUserWithAccess, err := db.HasDatabaseUserWithAccess(ctx, database.Spec.Database, database.Spec.Username)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Error(err, "Can't check if user has access to database")
+		return ctrl.Result{}, err
+	} else if !hasDatabaseUserWithAccess {
+		log.Info("Creating new user '" + database.Spec.Username + "' and granting access to database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
+
+		err = db.CreateDatabaseUser(ctx, database.Spec.Database, database.Spec.Username, database.Spec.Password)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Error(err, "Can't create database user with access to database")
 			return ctrl.Result{}, err
 		}
+		log.Info("Created user '" + database.Spec.Username + "' and granted access to database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
 	}
 
 	return ctrl.Result{}, nil
@@ -168,73 +166,38 @@ func (r *DatabaseReconciler) getDatabaseConnection(ctx context.Context, database
 	return nil, errors.NewBadRequest("Database type not supported")
 }
 
-func (r *DatabaseReconciler) finalizeDatabase(ctx context.Context, log logr.Logger, database *anbratengithubiov1alpha1.Database) error {
-	db, err := r.getDatabaseConnection(ctx, database.Spec.Type)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	defer db.Close(ctx)
-
+func (r *DatabaseReconciler) finalizeDatabase(ctx context.Context, log logr.Logger, db adapters.DatabaseAdapter, database *anbratengithubiov1alpha1.Database) error {
+	// remove database user and database access if it exists
 	hasDatabaseUserWithAccess, err := db.HasDatabaseUserWithAccess(ctx, database.Spec.Database, database.Spec.Username)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
-	}
-
-	if hasDatabaseUserWithAccess {
-		log.Info("Remove user '" + database.Spec.Username + "' and its access to the database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
+	} else if hasDatabaseUserWithAccess {
+		log.Info("Removing user '" + database.Spec.Username + "' and revoking access to the database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
 
 		err = db.DeleteDatabaseUser(ctx, database.Spec.Database, database.Spec.Username)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		log.Info("Removed database user '" + database.Spec.Username + "' and revoked access to the database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
 	}
 
+	// remove database if it exists
 	hasDatabase, err := db.HasDatabase(ctx, database.Spec.Database)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
-	}
-
-	if hasDatabase {
-		log.Info("Remove database: '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
+	} else if hasDatabase {
+		log.Info("Removing database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
 
 		err = db.DeleteDatabase(ctx, database.Spec.Database)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		log.Info("Removed database '" + database.Spec.Database + "'")
 	}
 
-	err = db.DeleteDatabase(ctx, database.Spec.Database)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	log.Info("Database: '" + database.Spec.Database + "' and user: '" + database.Spec.Username + "' removed")
-	return nil
-}
-
-func (r *DatabaseReconciler) addFinalizer(ctx context.Context, log logr.Logger, m *anbratengithubiov1alpha1.Database) error {
-	log.Info("Adding Finalizer for the database")
-	controllerutil.AddFinalizer(m, databaseFinalizer)
-
-	// Update CR
-	err := r.Update(ctx, m)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Error(err, "Failed to update database with finalizer")
-		return err
-	}
 	return nil
 }
 
-func contains(list []string, s string) bool {
-	for _, v := range list {
-		if v == s {
-			return true
-		}
-	}
-	return false
-}
-
 // SetupWithManager sets up the controller with the Manager.
 func (r *DatabaseReconciler) SetupWithManager(mgr ctrl.Manager) error {
 	return ctrl.NewControllerManagedBy(mgr).