Alkalinity High but ph staying around 8.0

[Guest]

New to this..
I was recently (last 2 days) given a 30 gal tank with an Aqua Clear 300 (300 gph) and a 150 subm heater...I went out to the local shop and purchased 36 lbs. Seafloor Marine Substrate (very coarse w/ a lot of tiny shells and rocks and crushed coral it looks), some decorative coral, A few rocks (I believe it is tufa rock?), Under gravel filter, 2 Zoo Med Power heads (160 gph), 18" bubble wall, new Bio Sponges and Carbon bags for the aqua clear, and a Red Sea Marine Lab test kit, last but not least, Coralife Sea Salt......

I set all of this up and I have to say it is beautiful...I tested after 24 hours of operation and the alkalinity is above the charts and the Ph is at 8.0-8.1....I might not have given any time for this to work out however, in all of my reading, High is not good....I just don't want to waste all of this salt doing a water change...Is there anything wrong in a new setup being this way (Fairly Normal)? and/or can I put in additives?

Am I freaking Out? or just impatient...

PS. How does the setup sound?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[fishfreek]

Tim,

If you could please provide us the acutal test readings that would be great.

General comments on your setup.

I would pull out the bubble wall and also remove the UGF. Also, if its not to late you might want to ask the LFS about returning the two Power Sweep power heads as I fear you will discover that while the concept is great their acutal performance is not up to par.

 

[MaggiesGame]

I have to agree on the power sweeps....I have 2 of them and they definitely aren't worth the money. I know I'll have to replace them VERY soon.

 

[freshmaker]

I would have to agree with fishfreek about removing the under gravel filter and the bubble wall.

 

[Guest]

On the card that I have with the test kit I have, the alkalinity just has LOW, OK, High and the alkalinity is bluer than the highest blue....

About the setup,,,I am sooo confused :? .....Kinda like I am being pulled both ways.....I was told and have read that you need good water flow as well as good filtration...I bought the powerheads mostly for flow....the UGF is also being used with the Aqua Clear 300....(Two Filters in one). I sought advice from the LPS's and got good feed back...

I guess I need a little more reasoning behind why I should not use this equip...I feel that the Aqua Clear by itself is just not enough...

 

[fishfreek]

The reason the UGF is not all that desirable is that it will ventually clog and the benifits will be lost. Also, UGF have the tendancy to have higher nitrate levels and if you want corals at any time then nitrates are something you want to minimize.

I have found the zoo med powersweeps to put out less than the rated water movement. Also I have found the sweeping nozzles will soon jam into 1 position vs swing back and forth.

These ofcourse are just two personal options. There is no real WRONG way to setup a tank. There are many options on how to setup a tank.

On all my tanks I have no external filter. I use Live Rock and Live Sand as my filter.

 

[EMS503]

Just a suggestion on your power sweeps, I also bought them and found out they do jam and the flow on the sweep is not really that strong.
I took one and opened the bottom and took out the gears (they just sit inside on pins) and purchased a small spray bar made for Fluval filters
(they come complete with spray bar, rubber hose to attach to your PH & a suction cup) and placed it near the top of the tank (30 long) and create turbulance across the top of the tank. This works out pretty good and I didn't have to buy another power head.

 

[Guest]

First of all, I would like to thank all that input on this...I appreciate the quick responses....

Well, I decided with much thought,,pros and cons and all,,,to keep what I have and just do a community tank for now....I got rid of the bubble wall (did look cool but, too much air...bubbles everywhere and no room for fish,,,I had a bubble show going on), I took the air tubes out of the ph's...I still get agitation of the water enough to create oxygen with the OTF....I did get biozyme and damsels though as recommended by the LFS... Brought those little guys home and acclimated them just as mentioned in the forum and they are happy little buggers...already found themselves a home and are fighting for it...mean little guys though...they ate at the LFS profusely so I did not feed them myself for another 10 hours or so...They ate again like they hadn't before...

It looks as though I have a good month or so to go before I know even a little of what I am doing...Asking a lot of questions and trying to sort it all out...I am also keeping a journal of my adventure...

Thanks again,

Tim