I tried very hard to do a fishless cycle and it just wasnt working out for me. So, i finally decided to add some fish to help the cycle along. It has FINALLY started to cycle, and yesturday my ammonia reading was at 1.5ppm, so I did a water change, (I think it may have been due to a snail that had died and died in an ornament in the tank, so we couldnt find it for awhile). Anyways, I did a water change, and it brough thte ammonia to .50ppms. I didnt want to do a HUGE water change at once, so I did another small water change tonight and it brought it down to .25ppms, maybe alittle lower. I was just curious, how high should I let the ammonia go while im cycling? is .5ppms too high? 1.0ppms seems too high for me, and I worry because I dont want anything to happen to my goldies. I still dont have any nitrite readings. Just wanted to know what safe and not safe while cycling. Thanks!

1.0 is the highest the ammonia should go; keeping it around 0.5 is best. That is a safe level for the fish but still provides enough 'food' for the bacteria to grow. Don't try to keep the ammonia at 0 during cycling because the tank will never cycle! It will take at least a week to 10 days before you get nitrite readings.