curing and ammonia- how high is too high

[Myka]

1 ppm ammonia is too much. That will start killing off all the microfauna that is on the rocks and add to the cycle. Do waterchanges or you can add an Ammonia detoxifier which changes NH3 to NH4 which is much less toxic. The nitrifying bacteria don't care. Keep in mind that many ammonia test kits read Nh3 and NH4 as total ammonia and will give you a "false positive". Seachem ammonia Alerts are compatible with detoxifiers.

Here's a great read that's pretty accurate (first page anyway): http://www.seachem.com/support/forum...rime-questions

[MitchM]

You only need about 3 - 4 ppm for nitrifying bacteria to establish itself in a timely fashion.
Anything higher will retard the cycle process and kill off most other organisms.
Ammonia detoxifiers will only last for about 48 hours and with our hobby test kits, you can't tell the difference between NH3 and NH4.