At what ammonia level will fish die

I can't say difinitively that any ammonia present will kill everything but you never want ammonia present in your system. If you have it you WILL/DO have big problems.
 
I just added water to the tank on monday, so i know my levels will be off during the cycle. I was just curious, so i thought i would ask

thanks though
 
Most likely, your tank has not cycled- there are no beneficial bacteria to process waste.

You want to drop in a fresh, not frozen, not cooked shrimp from the deli counter at the local supermarket into the tank- this will provide the ammonia that is needed to kick off the cycle. After you test positive for ammonia (you do have a test kit, right?) start keeping a log as it rises then lowers to zero. When the ammonia starts to come down, start testing for nitrite. It should also rise, then come down to zero. As the nitite peaks, start testing for nitrate. When the nitrate gets to below 20, then, and only then, consider adding livestock.

Adding anything alive with ANY amount of ammonia is cruel.
 
thank you for answering my question.... that is exactly what I was looking for.

I testes the ammonia and it was at 30. so i will wait untill 2 weeks goes by do a water change, then wait another 2 weeks and test all of my water.

What will the shrimp do?
 
it adds the ammonia to your water which kickstarts the growth of the bacteria colonies necessary to process ammonia-nitrite-nitrate. After starting your cycle it will take anywhere from 2-6 weeks for your bacteria population to get to the levels necessary for it to neutralize ammonia in your water. You will know your cycle is complete when you have a low nitrate level (20 ppm or so, 40 is a bit high but okay short term) and no ammonia or nitrite. This is assuming you have added a source of the bacteria to your tank such as a cup of live sand from an established tank or live rock. Adding fully cured live rock will most likely shorten the tank's cycle time overall. Good luck!
 
Dropping shrimp in there also adds a little salt flavor to them so you can cook 'em later :p

What you can do right now, is look around for good reads about cycling your tank and consult a couple LFS's about their methods. The more you know about the cycling process, the easier it will be for you to determine when your levels are safe and your tank is ready for livestock.

Remember: The Great Barrier Reef wasn't built in a day! :lol:
 
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