Who Gives A Fish Forums

Goldfish are notorious for this. Have you tried planting in small terra cotta pots? Bury the pots in the substrate, and the roots will anchor better. Also, floating plants like Frogbit might distract them from digging.

Thanks for the tips. I'll test alkalinity tonight and adjust my powerheads. Didn't think about room CO2 being a factor.

My tank's pH keeps swinging between 7.8 and 8.4, and my Acropora are looking stressed. Running a 75-gallon with T5 lighting, weekly 10% water changes, and a Reef Octopus skimmer. Anyone dealt with this before?

If you're into something more unique, consider a pair of Apistogramma. They're dwarf cichlids with tons of personality and stunning colors. They'll need caves and soft water, but they're worth the effort. Just avoid keeping them with super active fish that might stress them out.

Yeah, it's definitely a cichlid, just not my area of expertise so I'm not much help on the specific type, hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in soon.

The issue with Vallisneria and Excel is well-documented - it's a toxic combination. In most cases, Excel will kill Vallisneria species, along with some other plant species. I won't get into the details now, but suffice it to say it's not a good additive for any planted tank.

Regarding lighting ...

I'm thinking Flourish Excel might be your problem with the jungle val - it's actually pretty toxic to Vallisneria. Also, 15 hours of light is way too much, consider getting a timer to cut it back to 8 hours a day.

I'm no expert, but compost in an aquarium doesn't sound right to me.

Aquasoil's known to leach ammonia. I'd stick with regular water changes, maybe twice a week, 50%. Your daily 50% changes seem to be working, so keep that up for now. Honestly, not sure I added much to the conversation here.