FarCanal

G'day from an Aussie crypt fan,

This is an excellent source of information for crypts, well done to this forum. I've got a few questions so I'll put them all in this thread. Here goes ...

I've recently setup a 4' tank that is planted fairly "crypt heavy" and has some growing in to do. Here's a pic from a month or two ago;

I've since removed the red sword in the center for more crypts. What I want to do with tank is have a solid wall of C. Balansae for 70% of the background from the left. As you can see it is getting there, I planted 3. My first question is this, would pruning the tall Balansae leaves encourage more runners?

Toward the front left I've planted what maybe a Tonkenisis. I've just started an emersed setup and will try and get this plant to flower for an ID. Anyhow, here are some pics of it growing submersed if anyone wants to comment on it.
First a front shot;

Closer up;

What ever it is, it has sent out a runner;

and a side shot to show the beautiful red color, the photo doesn't do it justice;


I'll put in a photo of my newly setup emersed setup. It was an old 4' cracked tank that I patched up.
First the patched cracks;

A front view showing the glass baffles I put in for water falls;

And lastly running bare as a proof of concept;


I'll be getting my hands on as many crypts as I can to play with in my emersed tank, hopefully I'll get some flowering happening. I've been reading a lot of threads on here for ideas. I've had this running for a week or so and it seems to be staying very humid. It has a lot of plants in but not many are crypts yet, just test plants to convince myself it will work.

corymad

Hi there,
welcome to the APC and the world of crypts.

Your emerse crypt setup looks good and ready to go. It might be good to get a cover for your tank to maintain a reasonable level of humidity for the plants.

Any plans on what species you want to keep?

FarCanal

Hey Alan,

I forgot to put the covers on for that photo, I have covers and they are a reasonably tight fit. The species I have so far in my Submersed tank are the following;

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya'
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
Cryptocoryne willisii
Cryptocoryne walkeri
Cryptocoryne undulata
Cryptocoryne beckettii ''Petchii''
Cryptocoryne crispatula
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. tonkenisis
Cryptocoryne Siamensis
Cryptocoryne Rosenervous

I plan to put all these in the emersed tank once runners form. I have a few species that are a bit of a mystery as well. Here's a photo of one that I bought at my LFS that I think maybe Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' as it grows similar to one I bought that was name tagged. In my small 2' tank in eco-complete it looks like this;

Same plant in my 4' tank in eco-complete, peat, bauxite and diatomite substrate;

In this richer substrate with less light it almost grows black. If anyone would like to take a guess based on the submersed growth, I'm all ears ....

The plant highest on my "wish list" is parva which is hard to come across here for some reason. It's around but only becomes available rarely ...

andrew__

looks like a nice tank for an emersed setup. Will you be doing anything to keep runners from growing into each other or will you just have one species per compartment?

FarCanal

Hey Andrew,

Everything will be going into pots, the gravel in there is just to take out some height. I had one suggestion to put leaf litter in one compartment but I'll keep it all to pots for now ....

ts168

Hi FarCanal, Nice setup and nice growth there. Keep it up...

andrew__

sounds good then, carry on and post more pics when it's planted up