# CO2 crypt meltdown



## Altum (Oct 17, 2006)

Help! I started running pressurized CO2 on my 18 gallon planted tank and all my crypts are melting. I've completely lost a gorgeous, 14" red wentdii.  I've got balansae, petchii, and wendtii in the tank and all are losing leaves like crazy.

I started running DIY CO2 last fall and the crypts were doing great. I had maybe 10-15 ppm of CO2 in the tank from the yeast bottle. About a month ago I switched to pressurized with a glass diffuser. I'm at about 20 ppm. Nothing else has changed. Within a week of starting the CO2, the crypts started dumping leaves. I wasn't terribly surprised, since any change can trigger a meltdown.

The thing that has me bothered now is that new growth is also melting. It's starting to look like I'm not going to be able to grow crypts in the tank at all. Other plants are not showing signs of deficiencies and I have not changed the EI fertilizing routine. The crypts even pearl from the broken areas on their leaves.

Is this normal? How long will the meltdown continue? Are there people growing common crypts like wendtii and balansae in CO2 tanks?

Tank info:
18 tall with 65W of CF light
Medium hard water, KH 6, GH 15
EI fertilizing
20 ppm CO2

TIA for any help.


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

I would suspect they melted from the pH change when you switched from low output yeast bottle to higher output pressurized CO2.

They should come back fine in a week or so. And yes, many ae growing all kinds of Crypts in CO2 tanks without problems.

Cheers.
Jim


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Try increasing the light. I had a low light, non-CO2, 29 gallon, crypt tank with one 20 watt T12 light, and the plants stayed small, but stable. When I started adding CO2, melting started and continued, even including the new leaves until I stopped the CO2. After a few months, the plants were back in the same condition they were previously. Then I tripled the light level with three T12 bulbs and started adding the CO2 again. This time, a leaf or two melted initially, but then the plants started growing rapidly and they soon filled the tank, with leaves reaching up to the surface.


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## Altum (Oct 17, 2006)

Hmmm... Thanks for the lighting info. I'm already running 65W over a deep 10x20" tank. I could go to a 2x36W fixture but that's not much of an increase. More than that and I'll almost certainly overheat the tank come summertime. 

How long are CF bulbs good? This one's about four months old.


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

Crypts freak out at any change. Even a change for the better. Remove rotting leaves, change 20% of the water a day and sit back, relax and be patient.

These plants cherish consistancy above all else. I've seen them do really really well in very bad but year(s)-long consistant conditions.

Changes in temperature, pH, light even water movement will cause them to melt.

I suspect what happens is the root system manufactures leaves appropriate for the current conditions and when the change, in effect, the plant goes "oh, no longer appropriate, tear 'em down and make new ones".

Richard Sexton


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Happens to mine all the time when I change anything and they grow back much nicer IMO!!!!


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## philoserenus (Feb 12, 2007)

sry for borrowing ur thread Altum, but i have a related question... if crypts freak and melt due to any change, how does one go about doing water changes? b/c pH, temperature, and certain chemical compositions are bound to flex when new water is added to the system...


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## Altum (Oct 17, 2006)

rs79 said:


> Crypts freak out at any change. Even a change for the better. Remove rotting leaves, change 20% of the water a day and sit back, relax and be patient.
> 
> These plants cherish consistancy above all else. I've seen them do really really well in very bad but year(s)-long consistant conditions.
> 
> Changes in temperature, pH, light even water movement will cause them to melt.


Thanks. I was getting worried when even the new leaves were still melting some and the meltdown went on for a month, but I'll keep being patient. I'm not at 20% a day water changes. I'm doing 50% a week but I can change more. They were pretty strong plants so they should eventually come out it. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever actually killed a Crypt.

--Altum


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

I should have tempered that by saying crypts freak out at any big change not just "any" change. Routine water changes don't seem to bother mine - as in 80% water changes two days in a row doesn't seem to bother them. But, if you had a tank sit for a year then changed half the water, I'd expect that to melt them.

The thing that most often gets mine to melt is when a pump fails. Water doesn't move, the tank thermally stratifies - the top gets warm and I get a vat of crypt jello overnight.

But they always come back. The leaves die, the rhizomes do not.


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## philoserenus (Feb 12, 2007)

thanks!! now thatz valuable experience to learn ^^


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