are coral rocks affecting my tanks ph?

[tasinsc]

I have some large coral rocks in my 230 gallon tank ph is in the high 7's. I have been running the tank over a year with no fish I added some and they did not live over a month, put an angel a picostumas, small cat and a few tetrras. The tank had been set up as a terreriam before I switched to fish. I have a wet/dry filter system running. Do I need to remove the coral? Maybe driftwood in its place? New to the site but I am glad I found it it seem like you guys and girls know your stuff any help would be much appreciated.. THANKS TAS>>

 

[littletankbigworld]

Did you cycle the tank before adding the fish?
I would think that coral would affect the hardness of the water and not necessarily the pH.

 

[bassbonediva]

The tank was just running for a year with no ammonia source? Sounds like it isn't cycled and that's what killed your fish. Do you have a test kit to test your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? If you do, can you post what your water parameters are?

After the tank was a terrarium, how well did you clean it? I had a 20gH tank that I was using temporarily while I was getting my 55gal set up and it had been used as a reptile tank. I had more fish die out of that tank than out of any other tank I've ever had, except for when my 55gal went Chernobyl a few weeks ago (had a large fish die in a good hiding place and didn't find out about it until it had already decomposed and ruined the tank).

 

[TAL]

Need more info. But TAL agrees about 2 main questions raised.

Was the tank actually cycled and was it clean (and then cleaned from being cleaned if you know what I mean...)

 

[tasinsc]

Thanks for the response.. I washed everything off let it bake in the sun for 2-3 months. the reason i asked is on line i looked online and they had a couple of people say that coral raises ph and drifttwood lowers it naturaly..I know saltwater tanks love higher ph. Did some fun with octopus years ago. This is the biggest tank I have tried to get started with fish.the largest I have done in he past was 50 gallons because of the fish to gallon problem put to many fish in there have grown 10 years since then just want to fill this tank with the the right fish and enjoy. thanks TAS...

 

[littletankbigworld]

But did you cycle the tank? Are you aiming for a saltwater setup?

 

[bassbonediva]

What did you wash the tank with? Just water? Usually that's not good enough, even if you let it "bake in the sun" for a few months. The tank I used had been washed with just water and left to bake in the sun for a few years and it still messed with my fish.

 

[tasinsc]

I will get back to you all this weekend have to deal with something that just came up .. thanks again TAS...