New mantis tank water parameters

Buddro96

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I recently purchased at peacock mantis, I put him in a 20 gallon tank and added dr tims instant add. He ate a damsel fish and water parameters are at 1.0ppm ammonia seems odd given that dr tims claims to allow me to add him instantly. What should I do ?
 
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Buddro96

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I recently purchased at peacock mantis, I put him in a 20 gallon tank and added dr tims instant add. He ate a damsel fish and water parameters are at 1.0ppm ammonia which seems odd given that dr tims claims to allow me to add him instantly. What should I do ?
 

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Welcome 2r2 I would do a water change. What was the date on the bottle. Seachem prime locks ammonia for 24hrs. How soon after adding the Dr tims did you test.
 

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I recently purchased at peacock mantis, I put him in a 20 gallon tank and added dr tims instant add. He ate a damsel fish and water parameters are at 1.0ppm ammonia seems odd given that dr tims claims to allow me to add him instantly. What should I do ?

Do you have live rock? Was the tank cycled before adding the mantis? How big is the mantis right now?
 
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Buddro96

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Welcome 2r2 I would do a water change. What was the date on the bottle. Seachem prime locks ammonia for 24hrs. How soon after adding the Dr tims did you test.
I tested 24 hours after adding dr Tims
 
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Buddro96

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Welcome 2r2 I would do a water change. What was the date on the bottle. Seachem prime locks ammonia for 24hrs. How soon after adding the Dr tims did you test.
The bacteria was not expired
 
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Buddro96

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I did as well, still took about 2 weeks before I felt like the tank was ready to go.
What should I do ? He seems active and healthy I don’t want him to die. The LFS had him crammed into a 3.5g tank with heavy lighting
 

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What should I do ? He seems active and healthy I don’t want him to die. The LFS had him crammed into a 3.5g tank with heavy lighting

Water changes! Make sure the water you are mixing (or buying) tests out as close as possible to what is in the tank (salinity is very important). This will keep your ammonia and nitrates from getting to high and hopefully your biofilter catches up soon!
 
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Buddro96

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Water changes! Make sure the water you are mixing (or buying) tests out as close as possible to what is in the tank (salinity is very important). This will keep your ammonia and nitrates from getting to high and hopefully your biofilter catches up soon!
How often should I do these changes and how much should I change ?
 

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How often should I do these changes and how much should I change ?
There is a huge variety of opinions on water changes. For a brand new tank that I was trying to control ammonia on (not typically an issue in a more established reef) maybe change some every few days for a little bit? Test your water often, it will let you know what it needs. Start with 10 gallons (ASAP) and test again. See where that puts you and go from there. Long term you won’t need to change water nearly as often, or as much. It depends on what sort of filtration, dosing, and feeding schedule/bio load you have. Personally, I change 5g of water every 14 days on my 28g, but in 2 separate changes so as to minimize swings and maximize nutrient export. Some people will go multiple weeks or even months without water changes and everything in between, but that is in established systems that already have a good biofilter established. Definitely don’t add any other fish and keep feeding to a minimum for a while, and hopefully everything will be fine!

Oh, and I hope that didn’t sound like Greek. Ideally when you do water changes you don’t want to change more than 20-25%, but in this case it’s much more important to get that ammonia down.
 

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If you do 50%watwr change than you will reduce ammonia by 50%

When you do water change make sure temp and salinity is matched. During this process you should keep rodi and saltwater premixed to make changes quicker.
 
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Buddro96

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There is a huge variety of opinions on water changes. For a brand new tank that I was trying to control ammonia on (not typically an issue in a more established reef) maybe change some every few days for a little bit? Test your water often, it will let you know what it needs. Start with 10 gallons (ASAP) and test again. See where that puts you and go from there. Long term you won’t need to change water nearly as often, or as much. It depends on what sort of filtration, dosing, and feeding schedule/bio load you have. Personally, I change 5g of water every 14 days on my 28g, but in 2 separate changes so as to minimize swings and maximize nutrient export. Some people will go multiple weeks or even months without water changes and everything in between, but that is in established systems that already have a good biofilter established. Definitely don’t add any other fish and keep feeding to a minimum for a while, and hopefully everything will be fine!

Oh, and I hope that didn’t sound like Greek. Ideally when you do water changes you don’t want to change more than 20-25%, but in this case it’s much more important to get that ammonia down.
The guy at my lfs said to wait and see if the ammonia reduces itself by Wednesday before doing a change
 

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The guy at my lfs said to wait and see if the ammonia reduces itself by Wednesday before doing a change
I would do a water change and add more Dr. Tims and add again tomorrow.

What type of water are you using?
 

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I just tested my water and it came back at 1.0ppm. I dosed ammo lock to make it non toxic and I’ll do a 50% change tonight
Well it didn't go up that's a good thing.
Remember the ammo lock is only a stop gap. I would also add more Dr tims
 

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