Possible that Tongue Coral sucked life from my tank?

[Big Chief]

Help me understand this... I'm a novice and only guessing this theory...

I have an established 16g Nano (IM Nuvo 16) for about 1 year. Have some Zoas and Frogspawn. I made a "leap" into a Tongue Coral because "it looked so cool". At the time parameters all seemed inline, except it was tricky to maintain high ph and calcium, but I was dosing with A/B which was helping.

The tonque coral seemed to last about 4 months and we finally called it quits. What I noticed was the tank itself seemed to "wither". The coraline which covered my rocks was disappearing... and also I think I lost my Frogspawn, which had been going about 6 months prior. Its still holding on, but lost 90% of its size.

Is it possible the tongue coral was sucking everything up? I realize this tank is not ideal for SPS/LPS... thought I would try it out. What advice can you give me for the future (other than, dont do it again, lol).

NOTES: I use a chemipure/floss on 1 stack, and carbon/floss on the other filter stack. Sparingly, I dosed with Reef Builder to help with ph... and dosed A/B often to help calcium.

Thanks,

 

[MreasyC]

What is your water change schedule?


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[Big Chief]

I do 2 gal every 2 weeks... sometimes weekly if get a chance. I use store bought distilled water everytime. Mix is RedSea salt.

Of the 16 gal tank, its really only about 12g of water, lots of LR/LS.

 

[MreasyC]

Not sure if the coral was / wasn't the culprit. With a reef tank that small you almost need to do a 2 gal change every week. Also you must be really careful dosing in that small body of water.

What is your livestock situation?
Could your temperature be high or low?


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[Big Chief]

Only 1 fish - Bangai Cardinal. 1 peppermint shrimp and about 10+ hermits. Livestock is un-affected and water parameters are all inline. Except ph is always tricky to keep above 8.1 ish... and calcium around 380-400 ish.

I have been careful on the dosing... and really dont want to even do it because of the hassle. As a result I have realized keeping hard coral is just not a good idea... but my concern was why the coraline reduced... and also why the established hammer coral reduced. I just kinda of guessed it was the new addition of the tonque coral (which is now gone from the tank)? Or I suppose it was just coincidence? Maybe even bad dosing?