It is time for an irregular update. So, here it is.
I wish I had more time. Some Crypts have flowered and of course I missed it. But some C. wendtii(s) flower quite regularly. Also a mystery Crypt, that is similar to C. pontederiifolia flowered 3rd time during this spring. I was told It could be C. undulata (?) – I will write a new post about this Crypt and include some photos.
I wanted to try LED lighting – to be more precise LED chips. I have decided to use cheap Chinese ones from eBay. Maybe in future I will try CREE LED chips. So far I am satisfied with Chinese LED chips and I will add more. I mix a warm white and a cool white color.
During this summer I am will try to get more rare Cryptocorynes. In last 3 weeks my collection expanded a little bit (Hurray! I am so happy. 🙂 ) and I added Cryptocoryne sp. “Yellow Ring” ‘Bukit Ibam’ (well, it was labeled as “Golden ring”) and Cryptocoryne auriculata “Tiger Stripe” ‘Central Sarawak’. I have used a substrate based on Beech leaves mixed with Seramis (clay based substrate) and peat. A friend calls it a “German  mix”. It seems to grow well. C. auriculata converted to emersed form quite fine and fast and has 3 new leaves. C. sp. “Yellow ring” was already emersed. I keep it in my blackwater setup with pH under 5 (usually 4-4.5) and EC around 350 μS/cm.  Oh, and my C. minima has many new plantlets (it is in a pure beech leaves substrate… covered with sphagnum moss).