# Mudboots' Cryt. willisii x lucens-o-tope



## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Well, I am no expert in Cryptocoryne sps, but I've been trying out various Cryptocoryne species since I first set up my tanks, all NPT, and really like C. willisii x lucens 'bronze', C. lucens, C. retrospiralis and C. spiralis. I had a lot of the C. willisii x lucens 'bronze' in my picotope, and three specimens in my Wetland-n-a-Box, and pretty much found my favorite low-medium height plant. But the pico is getting overcrowded, and I won't be ready to re-scape the 125 for AT LEAST 3 or 4 months, if ever (depends on whether we move to "the country" or not), and I couldn't let go of these beauties. Hence this thread.

(I guess I need to take some pics and post back in a bit)


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Here's a pic of the aquarium. It used to house my son's betta at the house, but an accident with the fish and his lack of desire to ever chisel the algae off kind of left the tank unused. Since I can't just leave an aquarium empty, and I had to rescape the picotope anyway...whahlah!!! A new tank for my office!








Here is a shot of one of the Crypts:


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

It took a little while to set it up, but it finished for now. Here are the stats:

In general
10 gallon tank (the usual kind you see pretty much anywhere)
NPT (no CO2; MGOC substrate, capped with black diamond sand)
"Multicote" slow release - 1 Tblspn mixed with substrate - worked AWESOME in the pictope
No water movement
Lighting is 2 x 10watt spiral flourescents "daylight"

Flora
Cryptocoryne willisii x lucens 'bronze'
Fissidens fontanus

(for now, until the Crypts settle in and I get more Fissidens, I have two portions of needle leaf java fern, some Salvinia, and two stems of Lindernia grandiflora to help the tank cycle)

Fauna
RCS

(this will serve as a breeding tank; I feed excess RCS to my Apistogramma macmasteri crew)

It's not the prettiest Crypt nursery in the world, but it'll grow in I guess, and I really just wanted a place to keep the one species; the Fissidens is more for the shrimp than anything.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

looks good man, simple!i love crypts also! maunly because they are eeasy and atractive. i too moved my wilisii recently (month ago) because it started to get crowded and it was growing on itself upwards...weird. will you be adding a background? what color?? hope your son does not try to take it back now lol!!


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

I'll be adding a black background eventually; it seems to be the best in getting colors to show up, though the only colors will be the shrimp I guess.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I love this little crypt. They will grow much quicker with root tabs. Perhaps the ferts in your so do the same thing. I have them in every tank but Tex Guy's betta tank.


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Tex Gal said:


> I love this little crypt. They will grow much quicker with root tabs. Perhaps the ferts in your so do the same thing. I have them in every tank but Tex Guy's betta tank.


Yeppers, the slow release is similar to the tabs, but slower to release the fertz, and then there's a bit too much N,P,K, which is perfect for higher tech tanks, but makes me worry about algae if I have to move something around. I'll post an analysis when I get back to the office on Monday (that's where the container is).

But so far I have been able to keep the pico (this one is still too new to know) clean of most algae, as long as I can keep my hands out of the substrate[-X . I wish I had taken a pic of the roots from some of the plants; they were intense, many with little pups about to pop up.


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

I ended up having to go out of town again, so the analysis on the slow release will have to wait until I get back on Friday.


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## deftones2015 (Dec 7, 2007)

Crypts are slow growers anyway, you'll have time. Nice tank by the way.


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## WeedCali (Mar 6, 2010)

Looks great! cant wait to see it fill in


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Finally made it back to planet earth for just a moment.

Here is the analysis on the "muliticote"; it's made my Lilly Miller company and comes in a 2 lb jug. All nutrients are water-soluble, so as you can imagine it can creep up into the water column quick. The macros are basically 18-6-12:

Ammoniacal Nitrogen - 7.9%
Nitrate Nitrogen - 10.1 %
Phosphate - 6%
Potash - 12%
Magnesium - 1.2%
Sulfur - 2.3%
Boron - 0.025%
Iron - 0.33%
Manganese - 0.06%
Molybdenum - 0.007%
Zinc - 0.06%

It's a bit rich for the first month or two, but levels out afterwards and lasts plenty long for me.

So far I've got significant Crypt-melt, which I expected with the hot load in the substrate, but the shrimp are doing fine and the java ferns are helping cycle the tank. The water has cleared up, but I will have to wait on posting pic updates, as I am leaving all of next week and the following. I'm just about through with road trips, but the good part is that my setups don't really need me to do much intervention, and I get to see how things look each time I return.

Until next time, stay out of the mud,


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

I snapped a quick pic with the phone before I head out so I can remember what it looked like before I left...it's cropped because there's no veg above what you see, so no reason to see blank space.


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## WeedCali (Mar 6, 2010)

any updates on this?


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