Tanks bacteria levels

Question
I'll try to keep it as short and sweet and to the point as i can.
  I've had my tank about 6 months now but i bought it used of craigs list and it has been up and running for a couple of years. Its a 55-gal. I checked all the chem. and everything was at zero (nitrite,ammonia)pH was 8.2 and nitrate was 80.. i cleaned it well and got the nitrate down to about 45 and everything stayed at these levels until i made some changes...  which include.

I took most of the water out like 75% in buckets and removed all the crushed coral and dirt/grime. I then replaced it with sand(fine) put most of the water back in except the bottom of each container. as i was letting it settle i left my live rock out to kill off most of the worms in it ( i think not good) the live rock was out about 30-36 hours be for i put the rock in containers with good water/salt. now my levels are ...
NITRITE...  .50
NITRATE...   80
AMMONIA...  .50
PH     ...   7.8
TEMP......   79--81 degrees
SALINITY.   32/S.G. BETWEEN 1.023 AND 1.024

I don't know if the bac. is dieing off causing my spikes or what...how often should i keep a check on it. I've been checking every day for two days and its the same..

Last but not least..  When my tank was doing fine except the Nitrate being 80.. i did like 25% to 30% once a week and it just wouldn't drop the nitrate... is there a reason or anything i need to use.. the only thing i use is Prime and Instant Ocean sea salt.

I have a power filter and a wet/dry filter. is it a necessity to have a protein skimmer??

I hope this isn't to complicated of its length, i just wanted to tell you everything i knew... thanks a lot and cant wait until your response..

Darrell

Answer
Ammended answer

Maybe i misunderstood???  I thought you stated you dried ofv your rocks for several days to get rid of the worms???  That is what killed your rock..  If you didnt do that, that i apologize..  (btw: worms are not bad.. not pretty, but not bad)

If you didnt kill or air dry the rocks to get rid of the worms then just rinse them off and put them back...

good luck and my apologies

bill

Hello Darrel.

You would have to create book length messages to beat some of mine from my past excursions into the internet forums... heheheh

And btw, your info was very complete and conise as it could be... And all was needed... thank you


I would like to ask what critters/corals you have in the tank currently???  HOpefully not too much???

I would suggest you review and understand and or ask if you dont understand the 'cycling' process...

Cycling is just a word... it is descring the TIME frame needed for a salt water tank to become able to maintain life for fish and critters and corals...

the time frame varies for differeent reasons... many people believe that an old tank, one that was previously setup and running, will not cycle and or have a 'mini cycle'...

again, those people do not understand how the word is being used..

the cycle, or the time needed is again, variable for many many reasons...

you can have a ten year old tank, and move a rock, and your tank will 'cycle' again...

you can have a ten year old tank, and remove 90% of your fish, and your tank will cycle again..

what is going on? or What is happening during the TIME period???

And i know you know, as you reference it...

BActeria, AND biological organisms, Well, bacteria is a B.O. isnt it... ???

These 'critters' are growing/evolving... there needs to be sufficient QUANTITY to handle the fish waste, and food waste that you will be putting into the tank..

It is possible to have too many B.O.  for they will die off due to starvation...and when they die off, they themselves become food stuff, and then they grow again... 'EREGO the term CYCLE. as in PENDULUM  Back and forth, up and down...

When you moved the tank, you disturbed the B.O. and although you let the water settle, and only used the upper 'clean water'??? I can assure you the water was not clean... cleaner, MAYBE , but not clean...

then when you saw you had elevated NITRATES you did what many do, and that was TOO MUCH... you created the cycle again...

Iwould suggest at this point, and hopefully you have no fish...

Is.. to clean your rock.. you let stuff die in there that will continue to decompose in your tank... not good...

wash it off well with a hose... then soak the rocks in bleach and water, 1 cup bleach 1 gallon water...  soak for a day... then rinse off with a hose again, then soak for days, in VINEGAR and water.. same ratio.. 1 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of water..

soak for as long as you can...

then hose off and place in your tank...

now with the rock and the sand in your tank... and your clean filter...  let the tank cycel per the many resources suggestions...  

after the first week, start testing for nitrites and ammonia...thats it..

test at the same time of day...

every day

and keep track of the nitrites... they should go up and up and up and up... slowly, then more rapidly... then drop down to zero..

at this point your tank can support life... NOT A LOT, cause you have only grown minimal B.O. right???

as your fish grow, so will your BO population... then you can add fish every couple months...  a couple fish at a time...

after a period of months, after you are confident that you can do water changes regularely and without causing changes in pH and salinity, then maygbe start adding corals, again, slowly

the time period is slw, and is 'inconvenient' to many, and a waste to many.. but i truly believe that during that period of time, not only will your tank become more stable and mature, but so will you... you will become more knowldegable and able to communicate your issues, and or recognize issues more readily...

anyways, good luck and please let me know how things go

bill