# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk > Cryptocoryne Club >  My New Emersed Cryptocoryne Setup

## illumbomb

Hi Guys,

So after 2.5months into my growing emersed cryptocoryne hobby, I have finally set up a tank specially for growing them. 



I am waiting for my glass cover to be ready and so I'm currently using plastic sheet to cover the tank as a temporary measure, meaning I can only switch on the lights when I am back home and for a short while only in fear of the plastic sheet catching fire. Rain system is set up to wet the plants and increase RH 15 mins every hour via timer (see other thread in this section for more details on this).

I have added some boiled ketapang leaves (collected at my estate) "soup" into the water to attempt to lower the pH to 6 and threw 2 leaves in too. The water level is up to the soil level of the open-bottom pots used (I lay a layer of green netting at the base to prevent excessive soil from falling out).

Currently in my tank are 2 cryptocorynes I just obtained yesterday, one is C. Uenoi from Sungei Sabal Kruin grown in GEX substrate and the other is C. x Purpurea from Lundu grown in used ADA substrate. I will be transferring those cryptocorynes that I am currently growing in my mineral bottles into this tank soon.





Any suggestions and comments are welcome! :Jump for joy:  And, wish me luck!

----------


## lorba

Very nice and simple set up.

Keep us posted on the result.

----------


## illumbomb

An update after 5 days:

Added 3 boraras inside the 85cm x 39cm tank to tackle mosquito breeding problem. Still haven't buy the glass covers (01 x 85cm x 32cm plus 01 X 85 cm + 12cm glass need about $40 from one of the quotation I got so far), so haven't been providing adequate lights to the plants.

pH was 7.4 when I measured today, looks like the 2 ketapang leaves are not enough to bring down the pH, will add 04 more leaves tonight and monitor, if the pH still don't decrease, I will have to buy and add commercial black water. 

The C. Uenoi's new leaf opened with a hole, hai.......

----------


## carlfsk

Bro, you need some sphagnum moss to bring down the PH? I can spare quite a fair bit to you. Let me know.

----------


## illumbomb

Hi Carlfsk,

Where and how much did you buy you sphagnum moss for? Do you just throw the moss into the main tank or do you use it as substrate in individual pots and how much did you managed to lower your pH to? Thanks.

Regards,
T S Wang

----------


## carlfsk

> Hi Carlfsk,
> 
> Where and how much did you buy you sphagnum moss for? Do you just throw the moss into the main tank or do you use it as substrate in individual pots and how much did you managed to lower your pH to? Thanks.
> 
> Regards,
> T S Wang


Boss, I am using it to mix with the soil for plating cryptcoryn. As in water, I can't remember if I have use it this way. 

I used to age my water for water change. I place the peat (from Sera) in a netting bag and dump the whole thing into the reservoir, with a pump circulating the water within. It does cause the water to turn brown. I really can't remember if I mix these sphagnum moss with the Sera peat in the netting. 

I intend to use it this way for my new betta. But I do have enough to share with you, if you need it. can't remember how much I got it, but should be pretty cheap, thus can't remember  :Opps:

----------


## illumbomb

An update: 



Added a Seachem pHAlert for ease of checking pH of water achieved. Managed to reduce the pH to 6.8 by adding more boiled ketapang leaves and would be adding more to see the effect. 

No humidity issue at all for my setup, temperature is however of some concern due to the poor insulation property of the plastic sheet used to cover the tank. Hope the new glass cover I am getting can provide better insulation.

Went to Far East Florist to buy some plant labels, quite expensive (about S$5.40 for 100 pieces after discount). The rest of the nurseries beside Far East do not sell this at all! Quite a rare item huh?!?!

Regards,
T S Wang

----------


## illumbomb

Hi Guys,

Finally bought my glass cover. So as of now, my hardware is more or less completed. Switched to using 12mm/16mm tube as the main line for my rain system as what Yoong suggested, the effect is better than using air tubes as the air tubes tend to clog up.




Now I just have to wait and slowly see how to serve my softwares!

----------


## illumbomb

Hi Guys,

My collection so far includes: 
1) c. affinis 'Selangor' 
2) c. ferruginea 'Sugei Kerait' 
3) c. longicauda 'Pantu' 
4) c. minima 'Perak' 
5) c. nurii 'Central Pahang' 
6) c. schulzei 'Kota Tinggi' 
7) c. uenoi 'Sungei Sabal Kruin' 
 :Cool:  c. xpurpurea 'Lundu' 

Most of the above were grown in mixed used ADA Amazonia and ADA Africana except for C. uenoi which is grown in GEX (light green package type) only. C. ferruginea and C. affinis are grown in both type of substrates separately.

Today I suffered from hand itch so I repotted my longicauda, minima, xpurpurea and schulzei by adding 'Horti Moss', a brand of peat moss into the mixed ADA substrate, do you all think they will turn out better? I am also thinking whether to add the same peat moss to my uenoi and nurii, what do you guys think? 

Regards,
T S Wang

----------


## illumbomb

ketapang leaves are making the tank messy and therefore I have removed them. What should be the ideal range of pH I should lower the water in my tank to for the cryptocorynes that I have? Can I just lower it to say pH 6 and add more acidic substrate (i.e. add peat moss to ADA) for those species requiring even lower pH or is it more ideal that I lower the water pH to say pH 4-4.5? 

I have added some sphagnum moss (bought from the nurseries at $5 per small pack, origin is from Taiwan) into the tank as intermediate measure to try to lower the pH. It looks disgusting and is not helping much for lowering pH (maybe I am adding too little?) Is this how it should look when it is wet or is it because the ones I bought are of low quality?:


The other 2 options I can think of is adding blackwater extract or adding peat granulate (see below). Which is more effective and how low can I lower the pH to using these, any idea?

----------


## illumbomb

Ok guys, made the following changes after receiving some advice:
1) added a bag of peat moss into the water to lower the pH of overall water in the tank;


2) removed the rain spray system and lowered the water level to midway of substrate depth and fully close up cover;


3) kept the c. affinis which prefers more neutral to alkaline condition in a separate tray in the tank;


Better?

Regards,
T S Wang

----------


## illumbomb

Hi Guys,

Just an update, I managed to lower the pH of the water in the tank to 4.1 after a week. Adding peat moss is too bad a method after all, and the boraras inside are still surviving.  :Smile:  

Regards,
T S Wang

----------


## ronang

> An update after 5 days:
> 
> Added 3 boraras inside the 85cm x 39cm tank to tackle mosquito breeding problem. Still haven't buy the glass covers (01 x 85cm x 32cm plus 01 X 85 cm + 12cm glass need about $40 from one of the quotation I got so far), so haven't been providing adequate lights to the plants.


You don't have to worry about mosquito breeding in your tank as the water is not stagnent.

----------


## ranmasatome

mosquitoes can still breed in moving water...just not as well.. they just don't choose to lay their eggs in moving water.. but if they have laid their eggs in still water that later becomes moving water... some larvae can still survive... did an experiment on it quite a whiles ago, when i was still living in the forest.. :Smile:

----------


## illumbomb

Growing cryptocorynes emersed can be boring sometimes......yawn......you really need to have patience and passion!

C. uenoi 'Sungei Sabal Kruin': finally has a small fully opened leaf instead of the previous needle-like leaf


C. longicauda 'Pantu': will this be its burial ground, it is getting weaker although I can still see a white root growing out from its rhizome


C. schulzei 'Kota Tinggi': this @#%!* lone leaf has been in this curled up state for nearly a month already


C. xpurpurea 'Lundu': not too bad, new leaves are growing out but not as bullated as when I first obtained it


C. affinis 'Selangor': growing them in a separate tub with plain water, one in GEX and one in ADA


C. nurii 'Central Pahang': this is quite an easy plant to grow too, with new leaves constantly growing out


C. minima 'Perak': also an easy plant in my opinion for growing emersed


zzzzzzz.........

----------

