My Cryptocoryne Conservatory

[Art]

Sounds very fancy but so be it. Here it is:


Apologies for the blue light but my Nicrew light is in moon mode at the moment.

This is my Cryptocoryne Conservatory (and also Bucephalandras). It's an experiment farm, nursery, conservatory all in one. Allow me to describe it.

It's a 10 gallon tank with an acrylic top. Nicrew LED is the lighting and I have a 40% shade cloth on it.

• Plants are in clay pots with a combination substrate of sand, calcined clay and peat. The Buce are in clay balls.
• The water is RODI reconstituted to 5.8 pH and 1.4 EC. Full spectrum fertilizer.
• An Inkbird hygrometer controls humidity keeping it at 85% and turns on the fogger on the left to keep it there. A hanging humidity meter confirms the humidity and temperature reading.
• On the left is a Nicrew air pump that bubbles for 5 minutes every 30 minutes.
• At the back left is my CO2 supplementation. DIY fermentation CO2 adding CO2 into the environment.

Overkill? Yes, absolutely. I haven't even told you about my hormone spray.

Let's see how it goes.

 

[Art]

I was running out of room so upgraded to a 29 gallon. Found a solid deal on Amazon.

Also switched from clay pots to square plastic ones that allow for better fit. It looks nicer and a bit more professional.

 

[Art]

Again, apologies for the blue. This picture was taken at night when the moon light setting was on to avoid daytime reflections.

My point in sharing is to show the changes and relatively simple setup. I've removed the fogger because humidity remains 90+ without it. Less is more with these types of setups as stability (and patience) are more important than most things.

The Setup​

I have about 3 gallons of water (fertilized) with a pH of 5.9 and an EC of 584. I try to maintain pH between 5.5 and 6 for nutrient availability and it's a neutral pH suitable for most Crypt species. I use hydroponic fertilizers and additives to reconstitute RODI water.

An air pump runs for 4 minutes every 30 minutes just to get some water movement and air into the water. I don't know exactly why but I prefer this to stagnant water.

I have an Inkbird hydrometer hanging on the right side and an internal temp/humidity meter hanging on the left side. Temp is averaging 72F. As I'm transitioning most plants from submersed to emersed, I'm keeping humidity up above 90.

Substrate​

An area where I feel I'm still tweaking and learning is the substrate. The current literature focuses a lot on the type of substrate and its influence on the success or failure with plants. Honestly, I think this has more to do with technology availability when some of this literature surfaced but we will see.

Given that I'm in the USA and don't have easy access to Beech tree leaf mold, that is most cited as what's needed with blackwater species, I am using a mix built using my gut and available materials. Currently, I think I'm overthinking it but we will see.

The substrate mix is horticultural sand, peat, calcined clay, humus and Stratum.

 

[JacksonL]

. I haven't even told you about my hormone spray.

I think they used to sell this in vending machines in nightclubs when I was younger