My little 20gallon Crypt Tank

[Cacatuoides]

Hi folks,

Still a newbie here, welcome all comments since my tank is quite new.....it looks kinda bare but the crypts needs space to fully grow so din want to jam pack e whole tank, so far all e crypts are doing very well, growing new leaves except for C. Nurii which came back from hell.....

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 30W
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : 2 x 15W FL
Age of light bulbs :
No. of hours your lights are on : 8hrs

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : using CO2 controller, 2bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : Tank
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : Reactor, Dennerle cyclo 5000

Liquid fertilisers Used (Product name. E.g. Seachem Flourish) : Prolife
Fertilization regime (Frequency and amount per dose) :

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) : internal filter, dolphin

Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) : abt 3months

Water change frequency : once a wk
Amount changed : 20%

Tank Temperature : 31C

Plants:
C. Affinis
C. Albida
C. Wendtii "Tropica"
C. Parva
C. Nurii
C. Balansae
C. Becktii
C. Wendtii "Mi Oya"
MM

Fishes:
1 pair Checkerboard
6 3-lined Pencilfish
Rasbora Macularta
Mosquito Rasbora (gold green)
yamatos
malayan shrimp
octocinclus


Cheers,
Eman

[Cacatuoides]

for more pics, pls go to My Tank Pics

[Fei Miao]

Hi Eman, you are a crypts man as well?
Yes the tank looks new and sparse right now, if I may comment, I find the equipments bulkly and distracting now.


Have you thought of add some branches on the right side, I think that would give it a a natural look since it's a crypt tank.
Just some suggestions on the foreground...I know E. tenellus are not crypts, but a forground of tenellus will cover the bare patches and would look great with the crypts.

Keep us posted.

[joseph_zhou]

hmm... i think that it will be better to cover the back of the tank... it will bring out the plants better

[|squee|]

I actually really like the colour combination of your substrate and plant colours. I'd add a hardscape material, so it'll be eaier to work the scape out.

[Cacatuoides]

should i paste black Oyama paper at the back?? i've actually planted a few tenellus shoots, awaiting their slow growth..... thanks for the comments guys!!

[Cacatuoides]

Hi folks,

due to e problematic lapis sand which is raising my KH n PH constantly despite continuous injection of CO2, I have changed to Aquasoil Amazonia (black) and did a rescaped....added branches like wat fei mao advised....hope to like it, comments are welcum..... front portion empty for now, ordering new crypts....

cheers,
Eman

[Simon]

Eman, advise you to add more plants.. this will help for inital stage

[Cacatuoides]

yupz....already ordered quite a few pots liaoz...waiting for the lfs to call me for collection...thanks simon

[fazlee]

due to e problematic lapis sand which is raising my KH n PH constantly despite continuous injection of CO2..

Thought lapis are inert? Well anyway, if I may, the filter really distracting. Probably u wanna place some balanse (also crypt ) to cover. The black ADA soil really fits in. I'm using those for my tank also.

Where did u get ur nuri? care to share? Mine dissappears

[BFG]

Cacatuoides, did you collect the free FERKAS fert? The free sample may have given an extra edge.

Ferkas!

[Cacatuoides]

Fazlee - e nurii? hehe i got it from a secret source, promised not to reveal, but will definitely propagate n share with you guys! it died on me once n came back recently out of no where!

BFG - Yeah, i did collect the samples, could you advise me which fert n dosage to use? thanks dude

just ordered pots of C. Parva, C. Pygmaea, C. Lucens....

thanks for e encouraging comments people, hope to learn more from you guys...now the tank looks cloudy, waiting to let it settle down for a week or so...

[lorba]

Cacatuoides, use the ROSETTA for your crypts, its meant for rosetta plants anyway. The liquid fert use per normal but probably at 1/2 dosage.

check this out:
http://www.greenchapter.com/eshop_pr...=4&gp=16&id=90

[Cacatuoides]

Thanks Lorba, will definitely give it a try after the cycling is done n when the tank stabilises...

update on tank: Most crypts are rotting away due to new environment, water is still cloudy n lighting is reduced to half.....

[Cacatuoides]

Just added 2 pots of C. Lucens, 1 pot of C. Parva & C. Pygmaea each.....still left some empty space in the foreground.... which small crypts would you recommend?