Problems getting water chemistry right
 

I just recently inherited a 30 gallon salt water tank and am having trouble getting the water quality right. The person who I inherited it from wasn't in the best of health so I don't think the water quality was great when we got it. To move the tank we had to remove lots of the water, about 80%. We've had it for about a month now and the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels are still really high. We've used XTreme Microbe Lift and Microbe Lift Nite Out II to try to help matter, but it really hasn't helped. I've done several water changes anywhere from a 10% to 50%. When we got it there was a biowheel filtration system and we kept that original biowheel and added a Fluvial canister filter for a 45 gallon tank about 2 weeks ago.

The tank has a 6 line Wrasse, a blue devil damsel, a maroon clown and a banded coral shrimp. We also had a star serpent but he died about 2 weeks ago. We've added no fish, they were the ones already in the tank when we got it. The only thing we added was a piece of dry coral.

Any help is appreciated.

John

How high is the ammonia level? I would dose some Amquel or Prime for the time being. I'd get a second opinion on the test kit, since ammonia kits often fail.

Whats the substrate and also how much Live Rock do you have in it
So your aware, beneficial bacteria to complete the nitrogen cycle takes on average 22 days.
Do you have any water movement in the tank? What powerheads do you have?

After 22 days you should see stability. Its recommended ever week you do AT LEAST 10% water change.

This hobby takes a lot of understanding of biology and basic chemistry and then a fat wallet. :)

Such filters can be "nitrate factories", keep them clean, weekly WC, feed sparingly...
Not abnormal after a move of a neglected tank....