Crypt Care And Info

Hello.

What can you guys tell me about crypt plants?

I'm assuming you plant in the substrate, give root tabs, and maybe some iron. Am I correct on any of this? Also, do they benefit from liquid ferts at all, and what light intensity is best?

 

I hear that they do better in dirted tanks. But I have some growing in some gravel with some cheap walmart LED light and it's doing great. Never used ferts with them, nor iron.
They do melt back quite a bit though, but they will grow back eventually!

 

Yeah, really not too hard of a plant honestly. Moderate light is best, nothing too dull but nothing too intense. Liquid ferts have worked for me.

 

Yeah, really not too hard of a plant honestly. Moderate light is best, nothing too dull but nothing too intense. Liquid ferts have worked for me.

You don't use root tabs?

 

They don't need it - I don't dose any ferts - but they do better with it, especially root tabs.

Very underdemanding plant.

 

A lot of crypts lay pretty low to the substrate too right?

 

My crypts have been doing alright with intermittent liquid ferts. I just added a root tab yesterday, so we'll see if they do better now.

 

A lot of crypts lay pretty low to the substrate too right?

If you mean growth height, most grow to around 6-8 inches. Some grow smaller (like parva, couple of inches at most) others grow bigger (spiralis can have leaves in excess of 2ft long).

 

Here's an intro to ferts and nutrient needs:
Info Before You Buy Flourish And Ferts In General

You mention iron, but iron is a micronutrient, and plants need way more macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium calcium, magnesium, etc than they do iron. Those I would worry about first. They do benefit from both root tabs and liquid ferts

 

I've had the best success growing crypts in natural sunlight with a dirted bottom and a liquid iron supplement.

I was redoing someone's tank and they had some crypts that had melted to just a root. I thought we could salvage them so I put them in some of my tubs that only receive natural sunlight with dirt on the bottom. Within a few weeks, a few stubs had turned into full blown crypts with many runners. It was crazy to see how they came back.

 

If you mean growth height, most grow to around 6-8 inches. Some grow smaller (like parva, couple of inches at most) others grow bigger (spiralis can have leaves in excess of 2ft long).

Gotcha. Thanks for that. What I actually meant is that as the leaves grow, they lay flatter than other plants such as swords? So even if you have an 8" leaf, it's not sticking straight up.

 

Somewhat... they tend to curl outwards, like of a 45 degree angle.