UPDATE
So sorry guys for my long silence, I got two terrible past months job side, so I couldn't find the time to report my tank's status. Today I could find some time to post an update with some pictures I took right before the last water change, last Saturday, so here I am.
I must say, the situation hasn't changed much after all, despite I have tried to give everything any plant may need.
First of all, I reverted back to one water change a week (50-60%) for the past 6 weeks, just to overrule that possible issue.
Then, here is what the dosing regime as been for the past 4 weeks:
MICROS: I have matched my micro dosing with Burr's daily dosing, as follows for the past 4 weeks:
Fe DTPA 10% 0.15 ppm
Mn 0.075 ppm
B 0.025 ppm
Zn 0.06 ppm
Mo 0.0015 ppm
Cu 0.001 ppm
Ni 0.0005 ppm
I wanted to see how plants would respond with everything inside (Boron included), given daily.
MACROS: At the same time, for the past 4 weeks, I have increased macros to avoid any possible deficiency, and I have applied the suggested "double dosing on WC day" (aka "front-dosing") to keep macros as high and as constant as possible.
Here is how my macro dosing has been for the past 4 weeks:
NO3: 18.36 ppm on WC day, then 7.34 ppm for the remaining days of the week (2x)
K: 24 ppm on WC day, then 6 ppm for the remaining days of the week (2x)
P: 1.39 ppm on WC day, then 0.7 ppm for the remaining days of the week (2x)
With the above regime, I have seen some plants improving a little bit (mostly fast-easy plants like Hygros), but in the overall the situation hasn't changed, and has deteriorated a little for those plants that had problems already. Plants that were already stuck before, got even more stuck such as Cabomba Furcata or Ambulia, or even Stargrass (they are all supposed to be easy plants, right??). AR didn't change much (still sucks).
All plants that were thriving well before, instead, are still thriving and din't change at all (Lobelia, Ludwigia Repens, Limno, Stauro, Montecarlo, Mirio, Anubias, and more, are still thriving).
Here are is a group-picture of the good plants:
And here are some pictures of the bad ones:
AR didn't change much, still pretty pathetic:
Ambulia it still super slow in growth and has stunted tips. It keeps sprouting new side shots that die after a few days, like a vicious cycle that never stops:
I have tried everything with this plant: root tabs, rich soil, potting them, etc... I've come to the conclusion something is too much in the water column (more thoughts on this below...)
Cabomba Furcata seemed to do better 2-3 weeks ago with the increase of macros, but it got stuck again when I increased micros to match Burr's latest mix. Stunted tips and dying side shots, similarly to the Ambulia:
Rotala Rotundifolia keeps giving me mixed results: some stems grow OK (not great), and others just start and then stunt. Have a look at the pic below, and you'll see what I am talking about:
Stargrass shows similar symptoms to Ambulia and Cabomba: New shots get stunt quickly, they just stop growing after a few days, and then new side shots are sprout all the time, so that the plant instead than growing up, grows kinda "flat":
I have the feeling that the micro mix has something that it is too much for my tank, and it's blocking the assumption of something else... some kind of "negative" interaction is going on. Those symptoms got worse when I increased micros. The smoking gun(s)? Boron and Molybdenum. Most of you guys know my tap has plenty of both, and my guess is that I should just try to avoid dosing those elements once for all. Or, at least, try to avoid them for 2-4 weeks and see what happens. Cu also, I don't think it is needed to be dosed for me. I always measure high concentrations of it with a Hanna colorimeter.
So, here is the plan: Keep the same dosing, with the exception of B, Mo and Cu that won't be dosed for the upcoming weeks. Hopefully that'll make a (positive) difference.
Your thoughts on all this?