Thank you for the responses.
1) Not all my plants are reacting in the same way but the more finicky ones are having problems
- R. WALLICHII - I just picked this plant up a little more than a week ago and it was a rough from shipping. Since then it has been growing at a moderate speed but the new shoots are stunted.
- R. Indica - Also just received this plant. It has put down roots but hasn't grown much. There are some diatoms growing on the older leaves.
- R. Nanjenshan - Green, fine leaved Rotala that I've had for a while. Extremely light colored new growth that is stunted. Very little actual growth in height.
- R. Rotundafolia - the whole plant is pretty yellow. I have been aggressively trimming this as it always grows right along the substrate so I'm getting it to grow vertically with cutting all runners. Growth has been ok but slower than in the past
- S. repens - This used to grow very fast in my tank now it grows at a moderate speed and the leaves are getting GDA on them. They are also very pale at the vein of the leaf and have yellow splotches in the leaf area. Also looks like the edges have curled up making a lip.
- Dwarf baby tears - have a good carpet going but they have some diatoms growing on them.
- Blood Vomit - I have two of these that I also received last week or so and they are not doing well but seem to have stopped losing leaves and might be recovering but no growth.
2) My drop checker is pretty high in the tank. I will drop it down lower today to see if it makes a difference. I use 4dkh solution I bought from someone here on the forums a couple years ago and the API low range pH solution. I typically rinse the inside of the bulb with the 4dkh solution after using tap but I will switch to RODI for cleaning.
3) The KH of my tank is 3 since I started using Seachem Equilibrium. I have well water that has a kh of 1 out of the tap. I started using equilibrium since I originally thought I might have a calcium deficiency but Tom Barr says he has never seen a calcium deficiency so I guess its not that. The TDS of my tank with equilibrium and seiryu stone is about 270 by the end of the week. The water goes in the tank at a TDS of ~160 after equilibrium.
4) I think my CO2 distribution is pretty good. I have a 10 gallon cadlights zen series tank with an Eheim 2213 filter. The co2 diffuser is on the opposite side of the filter so the filter blows all the co2 bubbles throughout the tank.
5) I use NilocG's Thrive fertilizer although I have been adding 4 squirts of Brighty K and 2 ml of Aquavitro iron every week to see if they were deficient. One thing I have noticed is that my NO3 is creeping higher and higher. Last time I checked it was looking like it may have passed 20 but not gotten to the next color on the API nitrate test. I have salifert NO3 and calcium tests but I'm not sure they work on freshwater.
Thank you for your help!
Ok I just tested the pH and kH in my tank and the results don't make much sense. According to my API tests I have a pH of ~6.4 and my kH tested to 4. Using this chart
Fertiliser and CO2 for your aquarium. - Tropica Aquarium Plants I am above the red (52 mg/L). My fish are not stressed and I have a lone CRS who is still walking around fine. I don think I could add more CO2 at this point but maybe I'm wrong.