UPDATE
Ok, 4 weeks have passed already... time goes so fast!
And the situation has changed, not really for the best. Some plants got better, others got worse.
The plant who got clearly better seems to be Ambulia... yes, finally... but not completely into "normal" growth. But definitively better as you can see from this pic:
Cabomba Furcata also kept growing very well fo the past month, I can say was the fastest growing plant. I had to trim it more than once a week (!!):
Limnophila Aromatica also grew well, no complains:
But on the other side, some plants got "stuck" like Rotala Rotundifolia for example. It was growing so well a month ago! And look how it grew in the past 2 weeks. Just a little bit, too little:
Star Grass also got stuck. Look at its pathetic growth in more than 3 weeks!!
That plant should grow so fast to need a trim every 5-6 days or so!
And finally, the most pathetic one... guess which one??!! Of course, our hated-loved AR. That plant really got stuck and got worse and worse every day. It was much better in the picture I took in my last update above, 4 weeks ago:
Besides many plants got stuck, I begun seeing around some little tufts of BBA (oh no!!!).... which, in my experience, always tells me something is missing or wrong with dosing (nothing to do with Co2 in my case, that is always stable and unchanged):
So... what's going on???!! Here is my smoking gun: too low Mn. Do you remember I lowered Mn a big deal 5-6 weeks ago? And that sorted good results at first... but then, it was probably too low. The ratio Fe:Mn I have been trying for the past 6 weeks has been of 5:1, which is probably too low. And in fact, I have experienced a slow but steady degradation of those plants. I can see they are missing something. And Mn is the only element I have lowered in the past 1.5 months (unless Boron, which I haven't been dosing for the past 5 months, has finally bottomed out... but I don't think so since my tap should have it plenty).
So, my new micro dosing for the upcoming weeks will be the following:
Fe DTPA 10% 0.15 ppm
Mn 0.04 ppm
Zn 0.03 ppm
Cu 0.001 ppm
Ni 0.0005 ppm
Mo 0.0005 ppm
I increased Mn a little bit, not too much because I see Ambulia finally getting better and I don't want to hinder her growth again. Maybe I have increase Mn too little? Well... time will tell. If in 2 weeks I see no improvement, I plan to increase Mn even more (0.05 ppm). And if that also won't work, I'll try to add some Boron! What else otherwise?
One thing I have learned for sure in the past 2 months: the increase of PO4 has helped most plants a great deal. The ratio No3O4 of 5:1 seems to work best.
To finish, I am posting a full tank's shot, just to give an idea of the overall situation (before the last trimming):
Thanks for following!
Ok, 4 weeks have passed already... time goes so fast!
And the situation has changed, not really for the best. Some plants got better, others got worse.
The plant who got clearly better seems to be Ambulia... yes, finally... but not completely into "normal" growth. But definitively better as you can see from this pic:
Cabomba Furcata also kept growing very well fo the past month, I can say was the fastest growing plant. I had to trim it more than once a week (!!):
Limnophila Aromatica also grew well, no complains:
But on the other side, some plants got "stuck" like Rotala Rotundifolia for example. It was growing so well a month ago! And look how it grew in the past 2 weeks. Just a little bit, too little:
Star Grass also got stuck. Look at its pathetic growth in more than 3 weeks!!
That plant should grow so fast to need a trim every 5-6 days or so!
And finally, the most pathetic one... guess which one??!! Of course, our hated-loved AR. That plant really got stuck and got worse and worse every day. It was much better in the picture I took in my last update above, 4 weeks ago:
Besides many plants got stuck, I begun seeing around some little tufts of BBA (oh no!!!).... which, in my experience, always tells me something is missing or wrong with dosing (nothing to do with Co2 in my case, that is always stable and unchanged):
So... what's going on???!! Here is my smoking gun: too low Mn. Do you remember I lowered Mn a big deal 5-6 weeks ago? And that sorted good results at first... but then, it was probably too low. The ratio Fe:Mn I have been trying for the past 6 weeks has been of 5:1, which is probably too low. And in fact, I have experienced a slow but steady degradation of those plants. I can see they are missing something. And Mn is the only element I have lowered in the past 1.5 months (unless Boron, which I haven't been dosing for the past 5 months, has finally bottomed out... but I don't think so since my tap should have it plenty).
So, my new micro dosing for the upcoming weeks will be the following:
Fe DTPA 10% 0.15 ppm
Mn 0.04 ppm
Zn 0.03 ppm
Cu 0.001 ppm
Ni 0.0005 ppm
Mo 0.0005 ppm
I increased Mn a little bit, not too much because I see Ambulia finally getting better and I don't want to hinder her growth again. Maybe I have increase Mn too little? Well... time will tell. If in 2 weeks I see no improvement, I plan to increase Mn even more (0.05 ppm). And if that also won't work, I'll try to add some Boron! What else otherwise?
One thing I have learned for sure in the past 2 months: the increase of PO4 has helped most plants a great deal. The ratio No3O4 of 5:1 seems to work best.
To finish, I am posting a full tank's shot, just to give an idea of the overall situation (before the last trimming):
Thanks for following!