Crypt management

[Dbigfish]

I started a planted tank 8 months ago and everything has gone well. I've never had crypts before so I didn't really place them well in the beginning and I'd like to trim them but I'd also really like to not kill them. So how would I go about doing that?

40 breeder black sand over seachem flourite. 25 neons 1 snakeskin giurami 1 bristlenose pleco. Anubias, repens, red undulata crypt

[charliebankston]

I'm not able to help answering your question. Sorry. Just wanted to say that is a gorgeous tank

[Aiken Drum]

Trim the leaves back to the base with scissors. Periodically remove whole leaves and thin out the plants as they get too big for your taste. It looks like you have good growing conditions for crypts, so new growth should come in to replace what you remove, its just a matter of keeping on top of it so it doesn't overgrow and take over the front/centre of your tank.

My crypt grows like a weed and sends runners out all over the tank, up to 400mm away from the original plant. I pull the runners out of the substrate rather than trim them.

[TMaier]

Time for a rescale? Put them in back, feed them and they will cover that back wall. Remove any runners that pop up moving towards the front. My whole right rear is crypts. Khuli’s love it https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared...ff0caSNMzooka8

[Dbigfish]

Thank you all i guess I'll trim a section and see how it reacts. I can't place it in the back when I made the filtration for the tank the spray bar is along the back wall and made the hardscape around it.

[TMaier]

I have never seen a spray bar mounted low like this. They are usually at surface level to move water and exchange oxygen for the fish to breath.

When I moved my crypts from a 20 to the 65, they came out as one huge piece all wrapped together. I added to the new tank and worked sand under and into the roots again and saw very little melt.

[charliebankston]

Originally Posted by TMaier

I have never seen a spray bar mounted low like this. They are usually at surface level to move water and exchange oxygen for the fish to breath.

When I moved my crypts from a 20 to the 65, they came out as one huge piece all wrapped together. I added to the new tank and worked sand under and into the roots again and saw very little melt.

Right on spot about the spray bar!

[Dbigfish]

Originally Posted by TMaier

I have never seen a spray bar mounted low like this. They are usually at surface level to move water and exchange oxygen for the fish to breath.

When I moved my crypts from a 20 to the 65, they came out as one huge piece all wrapped together. I added to the new tank and worked sand under and into the roots again and saw very little melt.

It was an idea i wanted to try. I cut out a section from a 7gallon tall bucket and siliconed it in the corner. The actual filter on the tank is a fluval 307 with the intake and output hoses behind the overflow with the heater and the output is connected to the spray bar at the base. I made it this way for even flow through the whole tank its sort of a circular motion of flow and it keeps debris suspended until it finds its way to the overflow and I get constant surface skimming. The water has about a 4 inch drop behind the overflow so that's where most of my surface agitation happens for oxygen exchange.

[charliebankston]

Originally Posted by Dbigfish

It was an idea i wanted to try. I cut out a section from a 7gallon tall bucket and siliconed it in the corner. The actual filter on the tank is a fluval 307 with the intake and output hoses behind the overflow with the heater and the output is connected to the spray bar at the base. I made it this way for even flow through the whole tank its sort of a circular motion of flow and it keeps debris suspended until it finds its way to the overflow and I get constant surface skimming. The water has about a 4 inch drop behind the overflow so that's where most of my surface agitation happens for oxygen exchange.

That's a cool set up. Good job

[charliebankston]

I like to try different ideas. I find diy stuff fun. And keeps me from getting bored, lol

[Dbigfish]

Cut it back. 2 days later new growth is appearing.

[Aiken Drum]

I didnt quite mean to trim it like that. I would have removed maybe half the leafs right down to the substrate. Thinned it out rather than trimming all the leafs down so you still had a plant to look at.

[Dbigfish]

As it was dominating the front of the tank and I have more in the tank I just went all the way with it. The fish seem to like it better with an area to congregate. As it comes back ill keep it trimmed lower and less unmanaged than before.