# my cypress knee buce and crypt tank getting there



## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

I built my cypress knee scape and finally I pulled out all my substrate and attached all my buce and mini pellia and mini xmas moss to my knees. I attached my knees to a piece of acrylic and shimmed them with blocks so the small bottom roots show better. I am not quite done as i just ordered a bunch of great crpts to tuck inside the nooks and crannies. It is still filty cloudy from my Oregon clay and sand layer clouding it up bit the crypts will love that. I cant wait till the 20 Buce grow in along with the mini pellia should look nice. (Hoping so at least lol). Its my first scape I actually really planed in advance for . Its a 49 bow front with 4 24 ho t5's, pressure co2 just low enough not to kill fish and inverts lol, my substrate is pure Oregon clay from my yard mixed with river sand with a layer of seachem substrate on the bottom and top.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

oh wow, really really cool scape here. I appreciate the thought process that went behind this....great job!


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

Thank you. I cant wait till all the Bucephalandra grow in that I got from Congee he has amazing plants and great service.


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## jmsaltfish797 (Oct 27, 2012)

yep, that is an awesome looking tank. cant wait till I get a chance to see it in person.


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

Any time =) its better in person I am not a photographer thats for sure lol.


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## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

nice!


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

Thanks, I am going to have to use a real camera not my phone the pics, well suck lol


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## cowfish007 (Sep 9, 2011)

Very nice scape. That tank will look awesome once the plants fill in.


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## Niyona (Feb 20, 2010)

I love the cypress knees. What a good idea to attach them to something to get them to stay put. I've read several times that those buggers like to float! I may have to go find some now.


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## Niyona (Feb 20, 2010)

Also, is that a Dwarf Orange Crayfish that I spy? How is he/she doing with the plants. I've been debating on one of those. Of course I also want a couple bumblebee gobys too!


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

They dont touch the plants or my orange rili shrimp. I have 3 2 girls and a boy and I like them a lot fun to have in their. They will get some fish if they have a chance young angel fish have no chance the grab the fins and hold on and take a ride on them lol all my orange headed angels are gone but i still like these i think even more lol. They will eat some snails but oh well so many in my tank go for it havent seen them kill a nerite but they try.


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

I have 5 bb gobies in there i like them too


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## Anfer (Feb 24, 2014)

wow very good, good job!!!


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## Big O (Jun 28, 2011)

*Very nice!*

That looks soooo cool!


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

First time seeing this one. Awesome set up!! I cant wait to see that fill in. Is that an achilles black i see in the front??


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

Duck5003 said:


> First time seeing this one. Awesome set up!! I cant wait to see that fill in. Is that an achilles black i see in the front??


Thanks everyone, and yes it sure is an Achilles black. All the plants on the knees are bucephlandra, mini pellia and mini christmas moss. The other plants around them are slowly being replaced by rarer and hard to find plants. Once i figure that all out i will add better micro fish such as CPDs or something else not sure yet something tiny and amazing sugestions always welcome but it will be a moment spent a hefty penny on doing this plus a bunch of other stuff in my other tanks and paludariums


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

beautiful plant. I had one and disaster struck  within 24 hours of receiving it, all the leaves melted away, the root died and turned to mush by the end of the week. I have multiple buce species and have never had that happen, still dont have an explanation for it. I may try another down the line, but at 50-60 bucks a pop, it may be a while down the line lol 

For fish i think some marble hatchets would be a cool topwater fish to cruise those "peaks." Also, a great nano fish that i think would compliment your scape would be a school of ember tetras. A good friend of mine just scaped a 30 Long with a lot of driftwood, 24 neons and 6 embers and they look great together. Be sure to update as this progresses!


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Cool looking set up! I'm sure it'll look badas$ when everything has grown out! What crypts are you adding?


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

Thanks Duck and I really like the Hatchet idea I love those But might have to go with the dwarf one I want this tank to look bigger than it is lol. Sounds like your buce got to cold in transit they look fine one day melt the next from the bacteria load but either way that sucks. 

Hi Johonson I have a few that im waiting to get bigger Crypt. Cordata Rosenvig and metalic red im looking for some cool smaller ones though. Your the crypt man what types you think eeven if they are hard to find or nearly impossible to get the hunt is half the fun lol. 

And I will keep it updated

Thanks,
James


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Planted-tnk-guy said:


> Hi Johonson I have a few that im waiting to get bigger Crypt. Cordata Rosenvig and metalic red im looking for some cool smaller ones though. Your the crypt man what types you think eeven if they are hard to find or nearly impossible to get the hunt is half the fun lol.


C. cordata 'Rosanervig' and C. affinis 'Metallic Red' are both interesting plants and will look good.

I think that a great plant for around the base/edge of wood is C. x willissii 'Lucens'. I really like the shape of this plan and C. parva as well. The x. willissii grows a little larger than C. parva and is much faster. I like it enough that it has been prominent in all of my planted tanks for the last few years. 

I would probably suggest some C. nurii anywhere you would think to put C. wendtii. They grow about the same size but C. nurii has some awesome patterns on it's leafs. With that said, there are some pretty cool C. wendtii variants out there. Check out the most recent shots of my emersed 55, post #97, which has several full tank shots of my 55, the last couple pictures are showing a very interesting C. wendtii variation. 

There are a ton of other crypts available depending on the general size and shape you are looking for. 

When looking for other Crypts. I always send people to Jan's The Crypts Pages. http://crypts.home.xs4all.nl/Cryptocoryne/index.html That is a great resource that will help you figure out which plants prefer what water conditions. This might keep you from ordering a bunch of hardwater crypts that aren't going to fair well in your tank, same thing with blackwater species.


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

johnson18 said:


> C. cordata 'Rosanervig' and C. affinis 'Metallic Red' are both interesting plants and will look good.
> 
> I think that a great plant for around the base/edge of wood is C. x willissii 'Lucens'. I really like the shape of this plan and C. parva as well. The x. willissii grows a little larger than C. parva and is much faster. I like it enough that it has been prominent in all of my planted tanks for the last few years.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the tips I have added C. nurii Mutated and I have C. nurii and C. minima on the way. I am adding some pics of the crypts I have that were purchased as unknown from bulk buys out of indonesia but they have nice mottling on the leaves and the one has fantastic hammered purple brown leaves. I have always loved Crypts but never got into them til lately.
Thanks again,


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## Nativefishnic (Mar 2, 2014)

This tank looks amazing great job. The crypts look great


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

Thanks =)


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## jpchaos (Feb 23, 2014)

Verry cool lookin scape. U probably get this all the time but i love ur wood lol

Sent from my SCH-S738C using Tapatalk


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Really great hardscape! A note of caution: make sure you have really good circulation. Large, central pieces of driftwood can really gum up circulation in a tank. I had a bacterial boom that lasted for four days. The tank was cloudy and my house smelled of hydrogen sulfide. As soon as I removed the driftwood, the problem went away in an hour.


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

jpchaos said:


> Verry cool lookin scape. U probably get this all the time but i love ur wood lol
> 
> Sent from my SCH-S738C using Tapatalk


Hahah LOL, thank you


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## Planted-tnk-guy (Dec 23, 2013)

TyrannosaurusSex said:


> Really great hardscape! A note of caution: make sure you have really good circulation. Large, central pieces of driftwood can really gum up circulation in a tank. I had a bacterial boom that lasted for four days. The tank was cloudy and my house smelled of hydrogen sulfide. As soon as I removed the driftwood, the problem went away in an hour.


I do have lots of flow and surface agitation aong with water changes that sounds nasty I hope that doesnt happen. I have to have great flow for my co2 and watch for that anyway. Thanks for the tip and comment.


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