serious problems here PH / GH / KH

[Pufferpoison]

ok my ph is 8.2 after using proper ph8.2, tapwater is 7.8, my KH is 286PPM and my GH is off the freaking charts. i'm using the aquarium pharmaceuticals test tubes and bottle method. i did the test exactly the way it said, the water should turn orange after first drop and then when it gets to green, that's your Gh depending on how many drops. ok first test the goes up to 22 drops which equals 400ppm, i added 50 drops and still no grean. i checked my tap water and it tool something like 7 or 8 drops to get the green. so i ran a second test and (this is no joke) added 100 drops (5 drops at a time and shook bottle) and still a bright nice orange color. the test tube was filled to the top and still no green. so like my gh is somewhere above 2200PPM ???? this can't be good. i'm using Crushed coral as a substrate and have a UGF with a powerhead and a emporer 400 bio wheel / top fin 30 for filtration.
Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite .25ppm, Nitrate 10 ppm. fish seem to be ok. eat great come to the glass to see me, but someone please let me know what to do about the GH of this water

 

[mogurnda]

First a definition. A buffer is a compound that maintains the pH at a certain level. The buffering of a marine tank is measured by the alkalinity (measured in mEq/L) or kH (ppm). In the marine tank, the primary buffer is bicarbonate ion, although some lousy salt mixes use a lot of borate.

I'd say you're adding too much buffer. You should not need to add anything to your freshly mixed SW to get it to the right pH. The buffers in the mix should get the pH to the right point once it's mixed and equilibrated, even if you use RO/DI water. So, you have the buffers in the salt mix adding with the hardness of the tap water adding with the properpH, giving you very high kH.

Here's what I would do. First, ditch the properpH. If your alkalinity/kH are good, your pH should be where you want it. Second, stop measuring GH, it doesn't really apply in marine tanks. Third, get a good calcium test kit, either Seachem or Salifert because they are the easiest to read. With the alkalinity as high as it is, you have probably precipitated some of your calcium.

My general approach to testing:
When a tank is cycling, you want to measure ammonia and nitrite to figure out where you are in the cycle. Once it's cycled, you should not need to measure these unless your tank crashes.

For routine testing, I look at calcium and alkalinity. Calcium and carbonate are consumed by corals and other animals making skeletons, and in many cases will need to be replenished. Decay, which generates organic acids will also deplete alkalinity. In general, because they are used together, you will want to adjust calcium and alk together, using a two-part additive or kalkwasser or a Ca reactor.

I occasionally look at nitrate and phosphate, more to get an idea of general tank health. When the tank is new, it's also a good measure of how things are settling in.