ruki

I've been having not-so-good luck trying to raise crypts in flourite. Is there something else I should be using?

(Many of my other plants do quite well in this.)

kakkoii

I have heard of a couple:

ADA Aquasoil

Mineralized top soil: How to Mineralize Soil Substrates for Planted Aquariums

Hope this helps!

-kakkoii

Adragontattoo

I have raised crypts in

regular gravel (dont try this, too hard to do without a ton of work)
Schultzs Aquatic (Add Jobes plant sticks every few months and no complaints at all)
Eco Complete (works best for me so far)

I will have my mineralized soil ready by the end of the month it looks like. Check what Ghazanfar Ghori uses to grow crypts, I have seen his tank in person, it scares me.

tkos

I have my crypts in pea gravel. But it is a well established tank with a strong mulm layer. They grow quite well, though slowly (of course this is a low tech setup).

cs_gardener

Mine do really well in soil under eco complete. Especially in tanks that have been set up for at least a year and the longer the tank has been set up the better. So, ummm, pre-aged substrate?

Afyounie

My C. Wendti grow crazy in the shultz aquatic soil. I just mixed it with pea gravel from walmart, but I don't know how this works for some of the more sensitive crypts.

I am actually going to try turning my 55 gal into a crypt tank, and I'm trying to find a good substrate as well. I need something that will support all types of crypts. Also how much substrate do you need for a 55 gal? I want to get a nice thick bed.

V.PooH

I'm using top soil+ 1/5 peat moss+ clay, covered it by gravel. Best soil(it's my opinion) is from forest, because doesn't has a lot organic compare to top soil which you can buy in the store. It's very rich substrate, but take a lot of time to prepare and start aquarium( it's decrease ph during first 4 weeks). If you do everything right with soil, it's will be enough for 3-5 years, and doesn't need co2 injection, and crypt love it

Mud Pie Mama

My own top choice for crypts are Shultz Aquatic Planting Soil, followed by SMS - SoilMaster Select. These are very similar products : kiln fired clay. They are much lighter in weight than Flourite with a very high CEC. When I uproot any crypt from these tanks I am always astonished at the large, healthy and vigorous root systems. Happy roots; happy tops.

I've also run tanks w/ Flourite; mineralized topsoil capped w/ Flourite; mineralized topsoil capped w/ Eco-complete; just Eco-complete; just pool-filter sand; and plain pea gravel - w/ water column dosing (of course). None of these produce as vigorous growth on my crypts.

Homer_Simpson

Interesting.....I have had the most dreadful crypt growth with crypts grown in Schultz Aquatic Soil as well as Crypts grown in Tahitian Moon Sand. With Schultz Aquatic Soil, they have only put out a few pathetic leaves and appear to be just barely hanging on. With the Tahitian Moon Sand, the crypts melted and never recovered. I experienced and best Crytpt growth using Seachem Onyx Sand Capped over a sprinkling of schultz aquatic soil, crushed seachem root ferts, dusting of garden peat moss.

davemonkey

I've got C. wendtii growing fabulously in something called "Freshwater Planted Aquarium Substrate". (And that was even before the DIY CO2 and excel). I have no idea what this stuff is made of, but it's from aquariumplants.com (their own special substrate they came up with). It reminds me of Flourite, but it's all grey/black in color and very light weight.

-Dave