Established tank transported and now having problems

[jfilapello]

I'm new to these forums and looking to get some information about what problems I might be having with my tank. I recently bought an established aquarium that was a 30 gallons set up. The previous owner had this tank up and running for about a year and a half and was doing well. The tank is stocked with live rock, no corral, a tomato clown,a flame hawk fish, blue tang, the starfish which I am uncertain about the particular kind. In order for me to transfer this tank to where I am I needed to empty the tank of all but maybe 20% water. I placed water I siphoned out from the tank and put them in brand-new clean buckets. In the buckets I put all of the live rock, the fish, and salvaged maybe 15 gallons. To get the tank running I made new saltwater with distilled water and salt mix. all of the livestock were outside of the tank for maybe two hours. After setting the tank upas well as putting in the new water I slowly put the fish back into the tank. At first none of the fish seemed stressed but after they've been in the tank for maybe 6 to 8 hours I started having problems. I had my lights running for approximately 6 hours and since it was late turn the lights off for the night and went to bed. When I woke up the blue Tang was found to be dead. This fish did not appear to be stressed and had no markings or spots. At this point I'm guessing that the fish died from stress. Now today I noticed the flame hawk fish looked stressed and was breathing fairly rapidly. I didn't know what else to do so I just watched the fish and ultimately tonight that fish died. The tomato clown seems to have no problems but I'm obviously concerned as this tank was thriving before I took ownership. Here are the following tests I've done:

The pH was 8, no nitrites, no ammonia, calcium around 420 ppm, but 20 ppm nitrates. I'm not really sure what the problem is so if anyone can give me their best estimate of what's going on I'd be greatly appreciative as well as letting me know any other test I would need to do. I'm hoping that the problems I'm having are from the shock of the transfer (kicking up detritus from the substrate while in transit) and or large volume of water replacements and not something more ominous.

Thanks in advance...

[chrisfont23]

How did you introduce the fish to the new tank? Float a bag? Drip acclimate? Or just scoop from tank one and put in tank two? Ques 2: Did you let your new tank cycle? Ie. Did you notice ammona spike followed by nitrite spike followed by nitrate spike? Google 'mini cycle' and 'new tank syndrome' regardless of what was establshed, this can/will (and maybe did) happen. Sorry abt that.

[Reefing Madness]

Tough one to call. As you set up the tank right away and did not let the new salt mix run in the tank for 24hrs, theres one. Stressing the fish out big time, is 2. Oxygen levels down with no skimmer added. ?? Didn't see you post that one, or if you used the same flow. But if your thinking that something in the tank killed the fish, I really don't think so, other than the fact they didn't acclimate to their new water fast enough. If the parameters are as you stated, I think you let the tank settle for a week, test it again and go from there.

[jfilapello]

Tough one to call. As you set up the tank right away and did not let the new salt mix run in the tank for 24hrs, theres one. Stressing the fish out big time, is 2. Oxygen levels down with no skimmer added. ?? Didn't see you post that one, or if you used the same flow. But if your thinking that something in the tank killed the fish, I really don't think so, other than the fact they didn't acclimate to their new water fast enough. If the parameters are as you stated, I think you let the tank settle for a week, test it again and go from there.

Ok, thanks for the replies and lemme give some more detail. The tank I'm using was the one I had purchased. I had broken the tank down to maybe 4 inches of water in the tank. The live rock were placed in new clean buckets and then filled with the water I siphoned out of the tank. Fish were placed in the siphoned water from the tank. Then I brought the tank home and starting setting it up. I replaced the water which was probably 15 gallons lost with distilled with w/salt mix. I let the new water aerate for about an hour then added this to the tank. I'm betting on all of what you guys have told me plus who knows how much the substrate was sloshed around in transit. This tank came with a small hang on tank filter and that was all. I've gone ahead and bought a sump (Proflex Model 1), protein skimmer (The Marine Series Advanced In-Sump Skimmer ), eheim pump, overflow box and plumbing. I'm planning to setup refugium style and have access to mangroves. Most disconcerting is that with 2 different testing kits my nitrates are way high at 160 ppm, ammonia 0.25, and nitrite at 0. While Im waiting for my new equipment Im going ahead and doing water replacement to hopefully drive some of the nitrate down. Does what I've decided to do sound like a good plan or are there any recommendations or changes I should make to my plan?

[Reefing Madness]

Sounds like you have it under control.