The Cryptarium

[Mark Webb]

Have any of your crypts flowered yet?

No Flowers.

 

[wordy]

I dont mind at all and thanks for the compliment. The tall plant is Cryptocoryne Balansae.

I started with the following:

2 beckettii petchii
8 Parva
5 balansae
4 wendtii green
2 wendtii tropica
3 undulata broad leaves
3 willisii
3 Mi Oya
2 wendtii brown.

Good luck with yours

Great stuff, thats a quite a shopping list!

My tank is 110L so fortunatley I'll not need as many as you. One more question if you don't mind, could you tell me where you got them from please?

 

[Mark Webb]

Great stuff, thats a quite a shopping list!

My tank is 110L so fortunatley I'll not need as many as you. One more question if you don't mind, could you tell me where you got them from please?

Tropica Plants purchased from The Green Machine - excellent quality

 

[a1Matt]

I'd love to see how this tank looks now...

 

[Mark Webb]

Hi Matt, its looking very similar to the June shot except the C. Balansae has spread. Reached a plateau now. I will post a shot.

 

[George Farmer]

You can see Mark's interview about this tank here -

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... p?sid=3385

 

[LondonDragon]

Read it on my Droid on the way home last night makes a very nice read.
PFK RSS feed on NewsRoom App is great as it pulls the full articles down

 

[Mark Webb]

Thanks George. Looking at that makes me realize that the tank now badly needs a rescape. Now overwhelmed by the Balansae. The plants lower down have now thinned considerable which I guess is due to the reduced light caused by the Balansae.

 

[a1Matt]

I've noticed that Balansae has no respect for a scape! It will show no remorse, popping up runners a couple of feet away from the mother plant

 

[Mark Webb]

Time for an update. The tank is now overwhelmed by the C. Balansae and as you can see its looking wild. I dont want to trim any out as I am planning to add it to my large tank when I eventually get it up and running, so for now its a Balansae growing on tank. This is now blocking out a fair amount of light and the lower plants have suffered as a result. The plants have thinned quite a bit and its now possible to see through in most areas and growth is spindley, whereas until the Balansae took hold the growth was dense and lush all across the bottom. I started EI four months ago but the tank is looking worse since then.

I will do a rescape when I get around to it and certainly do another Crypt only tank but this time using lower growing plants in the hope that I can continue with it for a longer period......well maybe

 

[CeeJay]

Hi Mark

The Balansae has surely taken over, but I have to say, the original concept of this tank still inspires me