GC_nz

As per the original post, the swords do have root tabs (JBL fertilizer balls) and they were decent size when first planted atleast 3 months ago but are a lot smaller now due to struggling to grow. The combination of equilibrium and leaf zone seems to of helped compared to when I tried flourish.

Sorry for the slow reply, it has been a couple of weeks now, I have since been dosing API leaf zone, API co2 booster and also seachem equilibrium at water changes. I have got a bit of a better reaction from the swords, one is doing alot better, one only a little better, will insert some photos. of the 2 most recent leaves on both plants (most recent leaf has less holes, prior leaf has many holes as per pictures. Also upped light duration to 8 hours. First 2 pictures are a marble queen sword. Second 2 pictures are a Rose sword The Tiger lotus plants are growing even better than they already were, I gave them a big trim back last week getting rid of all the older leaves as there are heaps of new leaves coming through... i'm hesistant to trim the old growth on the swords as they aren't doing well. Definitely appears to be a mineral deficiency but what it's lacking is beyond my knowledge. Have just ordered phosphate, calcium, iron and copper test kits to hopefully shed a bit more light on my water chemistry. Also added an Aponogeton undulatus and a crypt Balansae, two plants i've never kept before, just to see how they go in my water conditions. I think I would rather keep plants that do well in my water conditions rather than having to continuously dose fertilizers just to make one or two plants happy, still interesting finding out what is going on however!

I have a 300L aquarium, pool filter sand substrate with a 1/2 inch layer of dirt underneath. 66 watt LED light on 7 hours a day Some plants like various crypts and the tiger lotus are thriving while the sword species and larger plants in the background are struggling, some leaves have holes in too. I have also added some JBL fertilizer balls underneath the sword plants to see if fertilizing was the issue but still no progress. I used to have good success with these plants but after a recent house move I cannot get them to grow nicely. Water hardness is KH 2 - 3 and GH 4 - 5, at my old house it used to be KH 4 - 5 and GH 7 - 8. I have tried dosing flourish, and flourish excel and see no better progress with this plants, I just start to have algae issues when dosing ferts. I wouldn't have thought fertilizers would be the issue as I have dirt substrate and added JBL balls also. Does anybody have any ideas on what I might be missing here to get these swords growing as well as the crypts and tiger lotus are?