# All Crypts tank



## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

I was thinking about converting my current 55 to an all Crypts tank. I know it would be incredibly low-tech and low maintenance. 

My only issue is much larger and taller crypts are incredibly hard to find around here. So I'm not sure if I would be able to find any thing like that. I had contemplated using all lower growing crypts such as wendtii and the different varieties, undulata, lutea, parva etc.

Anyone have any suggestions?


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Awesome!! I'm growing a all crypt tank in a 80 gallon. It's finally almost don't with the melt phase. Larger crypts are hard to come by. Try asking the forums if anyone is selling some taller crypts.


----------



## nbr1rodeoclown (Feb 6, 2015)

you can probably find balansae if you look hard enough. i think i even originally got mine from one of those topfin petco tissue culture packs. they'll grow up to like 18"+. I have petchii, and the various wendtiis as my midgrounds, and i really like x willisii for foreground, but you could easily find another small variant like parva for that. Out of all the common ones i like petchii the best. it gets nice pink undersides. Link to my 65 crypt tank i started a couple months ago in my signature.


----------



## Argus (May 22, 2013)

Cryptocoryne spiralis is doing well for me.


----------



## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

hudoroi, moehlmanni and podederiifolia are large and easy crypts.


----------



## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

BruceF said:


> hudoroi, moehlmanni and podederiifolia are large and easy crypts.




+1


I got C. Pontederiifolia and it grows easily and large, can compete with medium sized Swords in size.


----------



## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Unfortunately none of the crypts mentioned are available around here.


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Order them online.


----------



## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Not really crazy with the idea of ordering crypts online because of the amount of time it takes to ship them here and crypt melt...


----------



## Argus (May 22, 2013)

Blackheart said:


> Not really crazy with the idea of ordering crypts online because of the amount of time it takes to ship them here and crypt melt...


All of my plants were ordered online from either Planted Aquariums Central (they will be closed until Oct. 5) or LiveAquaria.com. None of my crypts melted. They are usually shipped Priority Mail or UPS 2nd Day Air. 

The plants I found locally (Petco & PetSmart) were all in plastic packages hanging on racks, and they all had white spots on them.


----------



## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Yeah, I haven't had any problem with ordering online and I've ordered form multiple sources, even some places that did slow economy shipping and plants are still great. However I don't recommend emersed grown crypts, the ones I got, fully melted down to the crown but stayed alive, but is essentially starting completely over.

Try ordering from members on this forum. I just recently ordered some (received a week ago) and the crypts are doing EXTEMELY great, very little to no melt at all (literally a few of them had no melt, and just a few had one or two leaves melt, the rest has no melt and already sprouting a new leaf, had mother plants and even small clippings)


----------



## nbr1rodeoclown (Feb 6, 2015)

Crypt melt isn't the end of the world. It should be a pretty standard expectation. As long as the crown and roots are fine, it'll grow back.


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Don't bury too deep and that will help keep flow over the crown.


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I have a carpet of C. Parva. Really easy to grow but only took a few years to grow


----------



## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

I might have to order Crypt Balansae from LiveAquaria since they actually have it. I definitely prefer to buy the crypts that are already grown submerged.


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

mistergreen said:


> I have a carpet of C. Parva. Really easy to grow but only took a few years to grow


Wow. I'm trying to grow a carpet of parva too. Do you have journal of the tank? I never seen a carpet of parva.


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

No journal. I'll take a picture when I can. It's purely a low tech dirt tank. No added ferts or CO2. It's all from the substrate.


----------



## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

A carpet of crypts does sound pretty sweet, but would be incredibly slow growing. I personally do like the look of a nice forest of crypts though. Especially Wendtii. Anyone here had experience with Wendtii getting really tall?


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Wendtii can get pretty tall in time honestly...but there are a lot of people on the forums who sell all kinds of crypts at all kinds of sizes.


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

We should start a crypt club


----------



## Argus (May 22, 2013)

Blackheart said:


> A carpet of crypts does sound pretty sweet, but would be incredibly slow growing. I personally do like the look of a nice forest of crypts though. Especially Wendtii. Anyone here had experience with Wendtii getting really tall?


Not sure how tall they will get, but if they keep going at this rate I'm going to have to replace them with something else.
Cryptocoryne wendtii planted July 31, 2015:









August 29, 2015:









September 11, 2015:


----------



## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Blackheart said:


> I might have to order Crypt Balansae from LiveAquaria since they actually have it. I definitely prefer to buy the crypts that are already grown submerged.




https://www.bobstropicalplants.com/shop/en/crypt/118-cryptocoryne-balansae.html


I have bought from this place quite a lot. 
Some plants are really cheap, like the $1 C. Balansae, the ones I received in the past were small babies though, but sometimes he throws in larger ones. He gave me a couple mother plant sized Anubias for the price of a regular portion.


All the plants (ordered about 20 species) I got were grown submersed, except 1 sword (the dwarf/smaller sword) I got that was grown emersed which wasn't mentioned.


----------



## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

HybridHerp said:


> Wendtii can get pretty tall in time honestly...but there are a lot of people on the forums who sell all kinds of crypts at all kinds of sizes.


I've seen them in tanks before get to about 10-12 inches tall. Maybe taller. 



Argus said:


> Not sure how tall they will get, but if they keep going at this rate I'm going to have to replace them with something else.


Why not just place them in the background?

I would love to use all different types and varieties of Wendtii for the whole tank but it would be too difficult more than likely to create depth like that, especially since my tank is a 55.

A tank full of crypts would probably more than likely never require trimming!!


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Here you go. C. parva carpet









I started with 2 or 3 bunch.

I can make a little money if I sold it but they grow so slow.


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

mistergreen said:


> Here you go. C. parva carpet
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looking good. I might have to buy some parva that was grown submerged so I don't go through the melt phase.


----------



## Tiptop (Apr 15, 2013)

Argus said:


> Not sure how tall they will get, but if they keep going at this rate I'm going to have to replace them with something else.
> Cryptocoryne wendtii planted July 31, 2015:
> 
> 
> ...


Not to hijack the thread, but how do you get your crypts to grow so bushy like that? I have mine on dirt and they just seem to get kinda leggy. Maybe too close together or not enough circulation? 

Sent from my C5502 using Tapatalk


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Tiptop said:


> Not to hijack the thread, but how do you get your crypts to grow so bushy like that? I have mine on dirt and they just seem to get kinda leggy. Maybe too close together or not enough circulation?
> 
> Sent from my C5502 using Tapatalk


The more light you have the less they have to grow upwards to get enough.


----------



## Argus (May 22, 2013)

Tiptop said:


> Not to hijack the thread, but how do you get your crypts to grow so bushy like that? I have mine on dirt and they just seem to get kinda leggy. Maybe too close together or not enough circulation?


Couldn't tell you what factor is responsible. 


Tank is 30g 36x12x16 high. Distance from light to Wendtii about 12".
Substrate is Eco-Complete capped by about an inch of CaribSea Peace River.
Filter: Fluval 206
Light initially was a Fluval Aquasky LED 36" run for about 12 hrs. per day. Aug. 8 added a Finnex 24/7 and only run the Aquasky for 5 hrs. during the 24/7 peak daylight period.
Tank cycled with about 200 ml. of Tetra SafeStart and ammonia dosing. Continued dosing to keep bacteria alive until fish were added Sept. 2nd. Didn't start using Flourish liquid and tabs until after these photos were taken.
GH has ranged from 7-8, KH 5-7 (trying to keep them closer in the future), TDS around 177. This is from 50% RO and 50% tap water treated with Prime.
Temp has ranged from 76-85°F due to hot weather and no air-con.
DIY CO2 with hagen ladder.
Water changes about 25% on no particular schedule—frequently when I was freaked out about pH climbing early on. Killed a few fish trying to control pH before I knew better.


----------



## streeker02 (May 2, 2014)

here is a crypt forest. Wendtii green and wendtii "Mi Oya"


----------



## BigJay180 (Jul 20, 2014)

Ordering online worked for me.

Only the cryptocoryne balansae melted, and it came back. 

I bought some "Top Fin" brand crypt wendtii from a pet store and that melted down to the roots, that came back stronger than ever and it's one of my favorite plants.


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

I might try one of those. I see them in petco and petsmart.


----------



## Argus (May 22, 2013)

Tiptop said:


> I bought some "Top Fin" brand crypt wendtii from a pet store and that melted down to the roots, that came back stronger than ever and it's one of my favorite plants.


I looked at those at a local PetSmart and they all had white spots on them. Anyone know what those spots might be?


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Argus said:


> I looked at those at a local PetSmart and they all had white spots on them. Anyone know what those spots might be?


I wouldn't worry too much about it since the leaves will melt anyways


----------



## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

mistergreen said:


>




Is that Anubias back there with the rhizome growing midwater? Is it attached to a branch of wood or something?


No water column ferts dosed? Plants all look to have no deficiencies to me, even the ones only feeding from the water column.

What lighting? Just wondering if the parva could grow more compact.

Nice lush tank!


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

WaterLife said:


> Is that Anubias back there with the rhizome growing midwater? Is it attached to a branch of wood or something?
> 
> 
> No water column ferts dosed? Plants all look to have no deficiencies to me, even the ones only feeding from the water column.
> ...


Yes, the rhizome is growing every which way. There wood under all that. I didn't tie. I just crammed it in wedges.

The lighting is high power LEDs. It does get probably 250-300 par of light but I have it controlled by an arduino. Every hour, it would dim like cloud cover for about 10 minutes. I was afraid it got too much light.

There's a tuff of Clado on that filter intake but it's harmless.

It's a dirt tank so there's ferts available also it generates it's own co2 ( I've measured around 20 ppm). That's pretty much why it's lush. I don't do anything except feed fish food and change the water every month to bring down the tds.

I was thinking about putting a streaming cam on that tank. It's pretty active and a have a cheap laptop I'm not using.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

My favorite thing to see in a crypt tank is root growing on the bottom of the glass. I actually love climbing under the stand and looking up. I'm so happy that's I'm starting to see the root forming.


----------



## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Any updates?


----------

