Need help with my aquascape :(

I have a 20 gallon freshwater planted tank. I have a finnex ray 2 led light, a Marineland filter, a small uv sterilizer light in the filter, and now a diy c02 diffuser. I have jungle vals in it and I just added the c02 but I am unable to keep them alive it seems. I just bought flourish excel but it's in the mail shipping. I have black gravel ad substrate. I am desperate to make my plants grow. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? I don't overfeed and I do regular water changes. I have a dwarf gourami, snail, neon tetra, pleco and rainbow fish. Please help me.

 

Excel will kill your val, bad purchase. The crown should be above the substrate. Instead of CO2 place some root tabs under it. Val prefer slow water movement, the filter seems right above the val. TrI'm the melted leaves with a very sharp scissors.

 

When you say the crown do you mean the root? Can I use the root tabs for other plants too?

 

Excel will kill your val, bad purchase. The crown should be above the substrate. Instead of CO2 place some root tabs under it. Val prefer slow water movement, the filter seems right above the val. TrI'm the melted leaves with a very sharp scissors.

Excel won't kill Val. It's okay with this fertilizer if you acclimate the plant to it. And the crown is where the roots and leaves come out of


Also, vals tend to melt and look almost dead before bouncing back when you plant them

 

When you say the crown do you mean the root? Can I use the root tabs for other plants too?

I do dose excel on my tank having vals, but not the full dose. Some plants have adverse effect with adding excel Val is one of them, just letting you know. You can dose once its done with the new tank transition period.

Root tabs will be beneficial for all root feeders only. It is not a substitute for water column fertilizer.

You should feed pleco some algae wafers or something similar. A drift wood also will be highly beneficial for its digestion. Since val is the only plant I see in the pic, there is a high probability that pleco will munch the heck out of it.

 

I'll start low on the excel and I have some Cholla driftwood small pieces in the aquarium right now. I might pick up some root tabs. I plan on adding more plants. My baby dwarf tears will come in sat. I also added a ceramic diffuser and a bubble counter. I'll take a picture when I get home today. My water is cloudy after adding the c02 and water change. Is it from the c02? Also the uv sterilizer should clear up the water in a few days.

 

It could be a bacteria bloom after the water change which is normal. I am not sure whether running a sterilizer all the time is a good idea, please do a google on that.

 

I'll look into that.