Trigri

@Pepere Thanks for sharing! Your pink flamingo crypts look so awesome! I'm hoping mine will look like that someday, otherwise it will just be more money down the drain 😅. I inserted a few root tabs around mine a couple of weeks ago but haven't seen much come out of that yet. I'm thinking I just need to give them more time. They all arrived as small individual plantlets a month ago, so they may still be adjusting to my tank, and it might take 2-3 more months to see some good growth on them. Your tanks look beautiful! Such a nice variety of plants and they all look so good. I really like the tiger lotus you have.

@Ladette I know crypt melt is normal. They all arrived with only a few leaves and kept them for weeks without melting, but each plant had a couple leaves melt slowly, while they also grew new pink leaves. I found it quite strange. They are just baby crypts, so maybe they need time to grow and mature. I was hoping to hear from someone that has experience with pink flamingo crypts, so they could give me a bit of insight, but thank you! I now have a bit of hope that the ones that appear to have died will come back for me. Maybe just "forgetting" about them for a few weeks will encourage them to grow. That's how it works sometimes, right? As soon as you ignore or forget about a plant, it will explode in growth and do really well. 😅

I purchased 6 small pink flamingo crypts sometime near the end of February and I've seen some decent growth, but I am a little concerned about them. 2 of the 6 melted away completely a couple of weeks ago, which was a bit sad since they had experienced very little melt after being added to the tank and were growing new leaves. But now, they are completely gone. A 3rd one has had all its original leaves melt away and is now left with one new pink leaf that it has grown since I got it. I'm concerned it won't survive 😞 The other 3 appear to be doing well, with at least 2 new, bright pink leaves each, while also retaining a couple of their original leaves. All of the pink leaves are ones that have grown in my care, which is exciting, but their growth appears to be very slow, and I'm worried they might die. They are kept in a nice open spot in the tank so they can get enough light and have space to grow. I placed a couple of Aquarium Co-Op root tabs under and near them a couple of weeks ago, and I have a weekly schedule for fertilizing the tank. I have a hygger light on the tank, which I have on for about 9 hours a day, at 50-75% brightness. There are several species of bucephalandra scattered around the tank growing on wood and rocks, along with tons of java fern, a small anubias, a crypt lucens, and an amazon sword that has had an explosion of growth recently. All the other plants are doing fantastic and pushing out new growth all the time. I understand that crypts grow really slow, and these plants are young so they may be growing slow simply because of that, but I just want some confirmation or advice so that these will do well and hopefully in the future I'll have some big pink crypts. Thanks for reading! (Excuse the tiny java fern plantlet hanging out on the crypt to the far right 😅)

@Guppysnail Okay, thanks very much for your help! I really appreciate it.

Thanks! @Pepere @Guppysnail Just to make sure, you are talking about this one, right? https://www.amazon.com/Hygger-Spectrum-Extendable-Controller-Freshwater/dp/B07X9TDN27/ref=sr_1_5?tag=tank01-20 This one says it has a 3, 6, and 12 hours time set. Is there one with 6, 8, and 12 hours? Or should I stick with this one? Sorry, just making sure.

@Pepere @Guppysnail Now I can't decide between these two Hygger lights: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077YWKZ1D/ref=dp_iou_view_item?ie=UTF8&tag=tank01-20&th=1 Amazon.com : hygger 25W Full Spectrum Aquarium Light with Aluminum Alloy Shell Extendable Brackets, White Blue Red LEDs, External Controller, for Freshwater Fish Tank (36-46 inch) : Pet Supplies Obviously, one is cheaper than the other, but I am more focused on which one has better features than the other. Which of these two should I get if I want to have better control of the light schedule? And which one do you think is better overall and would be great for my planted tank with java ferns, crypts, anubias, and other low-light plants?

@Pepere Thanks for all the info! I'll have to consider my options. The Finnex is very tempting but the price may be more than what I'm willing to pay at the moment. I'll keep it in mind if I ever get a new tank that I want to spend a little more on. For now, I may go with a Hygger light.

@Pepere Probably nothing more than $60.

@Guppysnail I was actually looking at a Hygger light earlier, so it's good to know that it's a good option. I may get one then. Thanks!

@FishRBeautiful I don't know enough about plecos and their behaviors to say much more that could help you. Your plecos behavior seems a bit worrying to me, so you might want to continue to watch it and make sure it's not being overly aggressive and hurting or trying to kill your other fish. Hopefully someone with more experience with plecos can chime in and give their opinion and help you out.

I actually only grow those 3 types of plants as well, with the exception of the single amazon sword. I also only have the lights on for ~8-10 hours a day and I have not had any problems with algae or plant growth with that many hours. I am happy with my current plants and I'm not really interested in many of the high light species anyway. I like crypts, anubias, java fern, etc. and will probably continue to stick with those species. I guess my biggest issue is that I don't really like how uneven the lighting is, with the left side being a different light and it being dimmer. I should also say, I didn't necessarily mean an upgrade but maybe just a replacement light that is good for the plants I'm trying to grow. I may just be better off switching the current lights with one that is better overall, but not necessarily an upgrade, if you know what I mean.

I am currently thinking about upgrading the tank lights on my 29 gallon planted tank. The tank has been running with the current lights for as long as I can remember and once had grown a massive forest of java fern. Since taking over the tank from my parents, I trimmed down and removed some of the java fern and introduced some new species of plants. I have a schedule for dosing iron and potassium liquid supplements and Easy Green Fertilizer. I have not changed the lighting and after nearly 3 months, the plants have grown quite well with no die back or any problems with growing. But I feel like maybe the lights aren't good enough? There is no visible brand on them or any specifications for wattage, lumens, etc. so I am unsure how good it actually is. There are 2, 12 inch lights on the tank, one is dimmer than the other (notice the left side is not as bright) and they look similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/CFPATT-Aquarium-inches-Spectrum-Hidden/dp/B09VDKDFXD Does the lighting seem good for what I have? If not, and I should upgrade and get a new light, what should I be looking for regarding watts, lumens, and such, and what lights would you recommend? Thanks! This is how it looks when there is no daylight entering the room, so all the lighting is from the tank lights. I'm a little embarrassed by how the tank looks right now, so don't make fun lol.

I myself, am pretty new to keeping both plecos and hillstream loaches, so anyone that is more experienced can correct me if I'm wrong. I have a lot to learn about keeping these species too. I have a rubber lip pleco and a reticulated hillstream loach in a 30 gallon tank and they do just fine together. Mine don't display any aggression towards one another, and I often find them hiding together near the sponge filter or my pleco cave, just chilling. They also sometimes clean the same area of the glass near each other and don't appear bothered by one other. I've never seen them fight over food and I even watch them late at night to watch their nighttime behaviors. I'd say mine are similar to yours, the pleco hiding a lot and the loach not hiding as much, but that is pretty normal for these fish. Hillstream loaches aren't typically aggressive towards other fish, but they can sometimes be with their own kind. Even then, they can't really hurt each other and it's more of a display. A BN pleco may be a little aggressive over food, but that also depends on the individual. Neither of these fish can really hurt one another if they are being aggressive for whatever reason, but they could possibly prevent the other from eating if they are being too aggressive. I would watch them and try to see how they behave with each other during feeding and see whether or not they show any aggression. Most of the time though, they should be perfectly fine to keep together.

@Tony s Thank you! I think I have a better idea of what I should do.

@Tony s It'll be java ferns and some buce and maybe some little crypts. I likely won't keep them there for long, but I'll be sure to take the proper precautions to ensure the temperature isn't cool for them.