# Crypts and light (and, everything else)



## menschenjaeger (Aug 10, 2004)

After decades of being a bare-bottom-tank guy, I'm looking to give the fish a little vacation and focus on plants. I'm interested in aquatic ferns, mosses...and crypts.

I want to start with a few varieties of wendtii. I have plenty of laterite, so I was going to go with a sand-over-laterite substrate. I have a number of CF fixtures - is it possible to overdo it, light-wise? Or can I count on wendtii to simply grow faster in bright light? 

While I'm here, I know that wendtii doesn't need CO2 to do well, but will it grow much faster if I give it some? Would that be better since I'm going to be giving the plants more light?

Thanks in advance!


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

With C. wendtii or most of the common crypts in store, you can 't really overdo with light. However, you will see more red color leaves than their normal color leaves growing under low light. You are better off adding CO2 in a high light tank though. 

Cryptocoryne growing under high light needs a lot of nutrients but growing them is possible. A well rooted crypt under moderate to high light can send out a new leaf once every 7 to 14 days. This is dependent on the species and condition.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Wendtii's have a very large gamut they can grow in. Let me give an example. My old 29gal tank, I gave to a friend. While I had it, it had about 2.5wpg, pressurized CO2. I removed most all the plants before I gave it away. I also gave my friend a 20W strip for the tank. 

In the tank there remained a couple of small wendtii's which I didn't pull up, but I figured would soon die under 20W and no CO2. Well, almost a year later, I can report that those small wendtii's I left in the tank, are still alive and growing, albeit slowly. Plus several other babies have come up on their own throughout the tank. These guys may melt easily, but they're hard to kill.


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## menschenjaeger (Aug 10, 2004)

Wendtii melt easily? As a grower of many kinds of non-aquatic plants, I've had my share of experiences growing "impossible" plants and failing repeatedly with "easy" ones, so it should be no surprise to see the same thing with aquarium plants. The reading I've done says the wendtii group is rather resistant to environmental changes. I guess I'll see what goes on when I grow them. 

It sounds like I can count on some rapid growth if I give good light and plenty of nutrients - that's what I wanted to hear.

One more question - in your experience, would I be better off keeping the tank in the _lower_ 20's C? My reading seems to indicate they are hardier at those temps.


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## SCMurphy (Jan 28, 2004)

I keep my aquariums around 22-25°C. Crypts seem to do well for me.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

I have to say its going to be pretty hard to over-do the lighting with crypts unless you aren't adding CO2 and ferts. I have several C. wendtii's and if anything the colors just became more intense and growth rate increased with higher lighting. Granted they were all green when I bought them probably 1 out of the 4 I have turned brown(a nice brown) while the others became very bright green under 3.6wpg. C. Wendtii's like many other crypts will change forms based on environmental conditons such as lighting photoperiod ferts co2 and water chem. By changing just one parameter you will most likely see some kind of change in all the new leafs and if the change is dramatic enough a partial or even full melt could occur.

I think its better to start off with less than 2wpg though if your only planning to grow crypts, ferns and mosses, none of these plants require higher light, Co2 would not be necessary and maintenance will be required as well. If you really want to go with higher light I strongly urge you to consider CO2 injection, slower growing plants like the ones you mentioned will not be able to fend off algae as easy in these conditions and without CO2 you could be opening yourself up for many headaches.


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