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are you planning to put base fert or lapis sand alone? how about liquid fert?
Firstly I would like to ask is ocean free American sand regarded as lapis sand?
Secondly , what plants can I plant purely on lapis sand? I would want the plants to root and spread.
I believe crypt wenditii is one of them as I saw bioplast planting them. Are there any others that grows well on lapis sand? How about marsilea harisuta?
My fish list:
BEC, L14, L27c goldline, L27d goldline thunder, L27 xingu platinum, L47, L90a, L160, L190, L200A, L239, L255, L330, L418,
Steatocranus casuarius, Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma, Hyphessobrycon sp. White Fin, Puntius denisonii, Hyphessobrycon columbianus, Hemigrammus rythrozonus,
Satanoperca Daemon, Geophagus sp. ‘tapajós red head’, Geophagus steindachneri
are you planning to put base fert or lapis sand alone? how about liquid fert?
Originally Posted by Shadow
I will dose liquid fert. As for base fert is it products like root monster? Can plants do without base fert? I will do CO2 if requried.
My fish list:
BEC, L14, L27c goldline, L27d goldline thunder, L27 xingu platinum, L47, L90a, L160, L190, L200A, L239, L255, L330, L418,
Steatocranus casuarius, Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma, Hyphessobrycon sp. White Fin, Puntius denisonii, Hyphessobrycon columbianus, Hemigrammus rythrozonus,
Satanoperca Daemon, Geophagus sp. ‘tapajós red head’, Geophagus steindachneri
Base fert is something like Dennerle DeponitMix. Root monster is more like fert additive, it does not last long thus need to put regularly. Plants can do without base fert as long as you dose liquid fert but tougher to make it right.
Thanks for the pointer. Will read up on these.
Better to put some base fert in a newly setup tank. Leave it as an additional option, in case u change your mind later and decide to plant deep rooted plants later like crypts. If not, you will have to overhaul your whole tank and redo the setting up again. A\
As long as you are on liquid fertiliser, you should be fine with most plants. My tank has been around for10years and my 10yr old Crinum Calamistratum is still growing thick and deep, even after I shifted its position.
Do note that for new tanks with base fert, the cycling will be more hassle as it will leech out into the water. You will have to "burn in" your tank by changing the water more frequently in the beginning and planting some hornworts or fast growing plants to avoid algae boom.
How thick should the lapis sand be if I want to plant crypts and how long can the base fert last? Do I need to "top up" the base fert later on?
My sand is now between 6-8cm thick from front to back although it used to be 3-5cm thick in the foreground with gradual thickness to the back of the tank. My C. Albiba of more than 5yrs has shifted from the middle of the tank to the front, touching the glass due to lighting, in 6cm thickness. C Grifitthi is in the middle with about same thickness. I'm too lazy to put fertilizer ball nowadays and the crypts have been living on the remnants since the last insertion which is probably about 4-6years ago.
You may wish to consider 3cm thick of lapis follow by a layer of base fertiliser, and about 2-3cm of gravel over it. Pls be careful if the top layer is too thin, the base fert will become exposed when you uproot plants from the substrate and caused your tank to become cloudy or cause algae boom. If your tank is smaller, it may not look nice if you gravel bed is thick. Just reduce correspondingly.
I find that crypts grows nice when supplement with additional root monster by the side of the crypt. I suggest you insert the root monster to the desired area before planting the crypt. If you insert later after the crypts has acclimatize, it may rot as crypts hate changes(like me, hehe...).
I would say the base fert can last about 1-2years depending on usuage. If you are lazy like me, you can do away with addition of root monster along the way. Recently, I introduce some hottonia Palustris and in about 3 days, the roots start to grow into the substrate. Maybe too much "shit" has accumulated over the years in my gravel? But I think as long as you have water fertiliser, even the more robust rooted plants can grow out of substrate. I always leave my Wendii brown floating in my tank after uprooting them and totally forget about it. Being close to the lights, they grew BIG and brown and nice. Just that they grow at "right angles" because they did not ground themselve to anything. However, the same cannot be said if you are growing demanding crypts that rots easily, like C. Tokinesis or Nurri/Griffithi, for these, the basics like substrate and lighting and constant environment must be maintained.
Not a problem, I grew these plants before without base fert. Wendii is good for spread. Talking about that, I just uprooted some brown C Wendii, will you like to pick them up from me? I stay in CCK. FOC...
Thanks for sharing the c wenditii but I am not ready to plant yet as now I am in the planning and learning stage. I will be getting two 2ft by 2ft and want to use lapis sand as substrate. Apart from the base fert that Shadow mentioned , what other type can I use ? I think I will need a shopping list.
There's many available brands of base fert out there. I used JBL some time ago and had good results with C. wendtii. The problem with Crypts is that some are sensitive and need special care to thrive. Plus, not all of them are meant to be fully submerged. You might want to read up in the Cryptocoryne Club section of the forum for more details.
On lapis sand, you can grow easy plants like Vallisneria, E. tenellus etc. Those with extensive root and runner systems do appreciate lapis sand more, but as others have said, a layer of base fert is best if you're doing a brand new tank. I grew C. wendtii in a small plastic box with peat moss for the bottom layer, covered with lapis sand. Being waterlogged most of the time, the wendtii grew nicely in the box.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
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