illumbomb

Hi Guys,

I am relatively new to this hobby, I set up a tank with a rain spray system. The pH of the water is about 6.7 using ketapang leaves but they can get quite messy so I removed them. I saw from other collector's website that their tank looks relatively clean...


From your experience, how low should I reduce the pH of my water in the tank to for the cryptocorynes to be healthy? I was trying to aim for a pH of 6 and add more acidic substrate (i.e. add peat moss to ADA substrate) for those species from swampy areas. Is pH of 6 for the water sufficiently low with localise acidity using approproate substrates within the pots or should the pH of the entire tank's water be lowered more to say 4 - 4.5?

I can think of some ways of lowering the pH but don't know which is more effective, hope that you guys can share some of your experience (what do you add and how do you add them?) and the pH you achieved using your method:
1) adding sphagnum moss
2) adding peat granulate
3) adding black water extracts

My collection so far includes:
1) c. affinis 'Selangor'
2) c. ferruginea 'Sugei Kerait'
3) c. longicauda 'Pantu'
4) c. minima 'Perak'
5) c. nurii 'Central Pahang'
6) c. schulzei 'Kota Tinggi'
7) c. uenoi 'Sungei Sabal Kruin'
c. xpurpurea 'Lundu'

Thanks in advance for the advise!

Regards,
T S Wang

Kai Witte

Welcome TS #2, (we already have another TS here at the forum )

I'd suggest to move the affinis out of this tank since it doesn't like acid/soft water. Add some limestone to the substrate for this and other hardwater crypts.

The single best way to get more acidic water is to start with pure water (clean rain water, DI water from the store, good quality RO water, etc.)! With this you'll only need a little peat to get a stable, low pH. (BTW, so-called blackwater extracts don't help to get a low pH and are not useful anyway.)

I'd suggest to get the whole setup to a low pH (pH 4.5 will be fine for the specialized blackwater crypts as well as for the less demanding crypts usually found in "rain water" streams). BTW, blackwater crypts don't need clean-looking set-ups:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...er-crypts.html
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...crypts-in.html

ts168

The C. affinis PH is neutral for this one. :P

illumbomb

Hi T S,
I know the c.affinis is not an acidic cryptocoryne, but I don't intend to set up another tank so fast for such type of cryptocorynes! Maybe I should grow them in my mineral water bottle setup in the mean time....

Hi Kai,
Thanks for the reply. The peat you are referring to such peat granulate which hobbist place inside their filter?


Regards,
T S Wang

ts168

Alternative you might want to have tray to hold the different type of environment and place the different pots in it. Not sure if you understand what i mean?

illumbomb

Ok guys, made the following changes:
1) added a bag of peat moss into the water to lower the pH of overall water in the tank;


2) removed the rain spray system and lowered the water level to midway of substrate depth and fully close up cover;


3) kept the c. affinis which prefers more neutral to alkaline condition in a separate tray in the tank;


Better?

Regards,
T S Wang

illumbomb

Hi Guys,

Just an update, I managed to lower the pH of the water in the tank to 4.1 after a week. Adding peat moss is too bad a method after all, and the boraras inside are still surviving. Now all I can do is wait and see how the cryptocorynes react!

Regards,
T S Wang

illumbomb

Growing cryptocorynes emersed can be boring sometimes......yawn......you really need to have patience and passion!

C. uenoi 'Sungei Sabal Kruin': finally has a small fully opened leaf instead of the previous needle-like leaf


C. longicauda 'Pantu': will this be its burial ground, it is getting weaker although I can still see a white root growing out from its rhizome


C. schulzei 'Kota Tinggi': this @#%!* lone leaf has been in this curled up state for nearly a month already


C. xpurpurea 'Lundu': not too bad, new leaves are growing out but not as bullated as when I first obtained it


C. affinis 'Selangor': growing them in a separate tub with plain water, one in GEX and one in ADA


C. nurii 'Central Pahang': this is quite an easy plant to grow too, with new leaves constantly growing out


C. minima 'Perak': also an easy plant in my opinion for growing emersed


zzzzzzz.........

SKSuser

For a month, thats not bad. You should see my feeble attempt at C. undulata emersed.... zzzzzz