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crypts and co2

Mr P

Mr P

Member
Joined
4 Oct 2011
Messages
166
Location
NW london
hi, is it worth injecting co2 in my mostly crypts tank.i have a lot of the parva type and am hoping to get it to carpet the tank.i do have a co2 setup not being used at the moment and wondered if it worth using it. roy.:)
 
Any plants will welcome CO2 but remember to supplement nutrients and such. But in my opinion crypts are normally slow growers and will do fine without CO2. Remember when you start using CO2 don't suddenly stop as CO2 is like drugs to plants when taken away they will react to it badly. Most of the Crypt melts happen due to adjusting to the lack of CO2 in their new environment.
 
If it's the true C. parva, you have, very rich substrate/root tabs will mean all the difference in growing well and dense. From my experience the true parva actually also needs more light, then most other crypts.
Mick.
 
i have columbo florabase substrate mixed with akadama, can any one recommend decent root tabs?thanks for your help chaps.i have a lot of light on the tank,2x24 t5s and a 70 litre tank..:thumbup:
 
Hold on guys, lets just get this right...are you are suggesting root tabs have more effect than Co2!!!
If you want my opinion, then if you want lush plant growth then add as much Co2 as possible without killing your fish & if you don't have fish or shrimp, then add even more.
Hight light is definitely not required though.
Although crypts can gain nutrition from their roots you can also grow them without any substrate at all as long as there is plenty of available ferts in the water volume.
I would suggest a rich substrate, EI dosing, .5 wpl light & injected CO2 with vey good flow.

Match the light to the amount of gas you can supply, if you can suspend the light then your lighting will be good however this is largely dependant on the other governing factors like flow & tank maintenance.
 
Most Crypts do very well in low-energy tanks with a nutrient rich substrate, mine go mad grown in soil. But with the addition of CO2 they become complete thugs and would soon take over left unchecked.
 
foxfish said:
Hold on guys, lets just get this right...are you are suggesting root tabs have more effect than Co2!!!
Click to expand...

Exactly right :p

As far as i am away crypts can only take up sufficient nutrients through their roots, and these are generally not exposed to the water column.

If you increase the CO2 and don't provide nutrients at root level then you're barely going to see an increase in growth. If you add nutrients at root level and do nothing with the CO2 then you will still see insane growth.

Adding CO2 without providing adequate root level nutrients is basically wasted money.

If you do both then you will get insane growth. My balansae crypts grew to about 3 foot :p, but for cypts; root tabs > CO2
 
Where did you find the info regarding crypts not taking from the water column?

I'm pretty sure this is why they melt old leaves and produce their submersed leaves, these enable to take from the water columns.

Just because a plant has long thick roots, it doesn't mean they take up more from the root. Roots are also used as an anchor, as these plants are from area prone to flooding, the root stops the plant from being swept away.
 
Diana Walstad's 'Ecology of the Planted Aquarium' comments that plants have preferences to where they take up certain nutrients. She commented that aquatic plants prefer the uptake of Phosphorus through the use of roots, Potassium through their shoots and Ammonia through the leaves which implies that given a chance plants will take up nutrients from the water column instead of taking all their nutrients through the roots. Things like root tabs and liquid ferts are there to make our jobs in providing nutrients more simple.

As Ian suggests Roots also help to anchor plants down and in my opinion root size is proportional to the size of the plant more for anchoring purposes rather than suggesting the plant preferring root up take of nutrients.

Michael.
 
the lighting I cant really change,i have had various floating plants to reduce light but now want a more open look,i started co2 and el today.i will be altering the tank at a later date but for now its a bit of a test tank.i have various crypts in my tanks and they have done well using el method,with an open structure substrate the ferts will still get to the roots?i must admit im a bit out of my depth here.
roy.
 
Ian Holdich said:
Where did you find the info regarding crypts not taking from the water column?

I'm pretty sure this is why they melt old leaves and produce their submersed leaves, these enable to take from the water columns.

Just because a plant has long thick roots, it doesn't mean they take up more from the root. Roots are also used as an anchor, as these plants are from area prone to flooding, the root stops the plant from being swept away.
Click to expand...
All plants, aquatic and non aquatic, can absorb nutrients to varying degrees through their leaves. Crypts are at the low end of this, they much prefer to take nutrients through their roots.
 
mafoo said:
Crypts are at the low end of this, they much prefer to take nutrients through their roots.
Click to expand...

This is completely untrue....Completely......
I don't use root tabs, and have no trouble whatsoever growing crypts.
Here are crypts (wendetii brown and wendetii green) grown in inert substrate with water column dosing and high CO2.
Distance from top to bottom of this photo, the distance is about 20 inches (50 cm).
8394114269_9e40750b60_z.jpg


Cheers,
 
I may be wrong...but not only foliar feeding...I should also imagine that given good flow and distribution and a suitably interstitially porous inert substrate there will be a certain amount of uptake through the roots as well; analogous to hydroponics. And in foxfishes case from the water column via dangling roots.
 
My 300 litre Low tech,NonCO2 is all crypt's and Anubia.(Crypt Parva,Balansae,Bronze, and Red)
Tank is planted in Miracle Grow,Peat,covered with Black Diamond Blasting media.
Believe plant's will uptake nutrient's from where they find them,but I dose maybe 1/3 EI each week with 50% water change.
This tank ran for two year's with good growth albeit slow ,So when I recently re-did it,,I followed same procedure as before.
I don't feel I needed to re-do it but wanted the 100 assorted fishes removed, and this was easiest way.
I do on occasion place Osmocote Pot Shot under the crypt's ,but only after a year or more.
 
I only asked the question because i keep reading posts that say plants than prefer feeding from the roots get dismissed with comments like
"This is completely untrue", sorry ceg, and this gives the impression that having an enriched substrate with high CEC is of no benifit in the planted tank, especially when youve read the same thing many times in a relatively short time, which is also "completely untrue"
the truth is if plants have a nutrient rich substrate and water column they will probably take nutrients from both and will probably do better if they have both sources availiable. No one really knows where each plant prefers to take nutrients from because if only water column or substrate is available most plants will adapt and take nutrients from where they are available.

Andy
 
Well I am led to believe that most plants can absorb nutrition from their roots and their foliage.
This being the case one must consider the amount of foliage compared to root mass?
I was also led to believe that substrates like ADA Amazonia leach the impregnated nutrients into the water column?
 
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