yup. same here

maybe the barb are stress, thats y the color are faded.

I was looking for the same thing too for a while - the so called super dark red cherry barbs, but you won't able to find it. Those super red is actually normal male cherry barbs in its mature form. In the end, I bought those normal one, you can pick male which is more bullet-like shape instead of female has bigger belly and paler in color. I have mine for a few months, no way looks super red yet, but will see.

if anyone got chance hor, go to IPC aquarium shop (top floor) and look at their cherry barb! super gorgeous red! I ask them why so the red?
they said, oh, the water needs to be cold. and read on the net, it's supposed to turn red during spawning. then i ask them mau jual?
they just shook their heads. if only i can scoop that bugger out and back to my tank, haha.

Haha. I actually saw it too. I asked if they willing to sell it.

yup they do look super red when theyre ready to spawn(the males la)

by the way guys, anyone heard / using Deebow brand for their led lighting?

am interested in their dee-45 model, however nothing much on the net

Hye guys...anyone know name of these plant...been search in the net...cannot find...


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Eriocaulon Australia may be...

I saw people selling at lelongdotcom which look similar from your photos.

Thanks bro....i think myb that the name

sure, no problem!

Hi all,

here's my low tech, low cost planted tank..

the cabombas and coontails are growing fast, moss balls seems to be growing too, but the Christmas moss at the bottom, the java ferns on the front right and the ferns at the back arent doing so great.. are these plants naturally slow growing or do they need co2 to grow?

had my lighting on about 16 hours a day, and i've put in nitrate, ammonia, carbon and phosphate reducer media in the top filter box.
there's some minor algae growth around the tank, but not serious.


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java fern are slow grower
christmas moss will be more thrive in cold water
and yes..
with additional supply of co2 will make them grow faster

p/s:
16 hour of lighting is overkill espeacially for low tech tank

16 hours of lighting is way too long. A planted tank is a contained ecosystem, therefore it needs to simulate day and night. We don't get 16 hours of sunlight for sure. Depend on your tank setup, a mature tank is usually between 9-12hours.

what lighting you guys are using for your current tank?

if can, please specify the watts, your tank capacity (litre / ft / etc), what kind of plants and fishes / shrimps

thanks!

would there be any adverse effects in the long run (besides algae growth) if i were to run the lights at 16 hours a day?
my kids love to hang around the aquarium throughout the day to look at the fishes, and its placed at a shaded corner of the house and will be dark without lights, so 16 hours is about their up-time (about 7am-11pm, timer controlled).
if there's any adverse effects, would it help if i have the lighting off for maybe 4 hours in the noon to cut the total lighting to 12 hours?

Well, personally I haven't tried 16 hours. but from other people experience, algae growth will be the main problem. How old is your tank?

It won't work to have lighting off during noon for 4 hours. It doesn't work that way. You will interrupt the photosynthesis. They don't take nap.

so the lighting must be on nonstop for the desired hours?

how about if the timing change for certain days, for example today i on it for 6 hours starting 7pm, then somedays later i decide to on it for 6 hours but starting 12am

any side effect?

the tank is about 2 months old, and i think it's pretty stable by now, as in no sudden fish/shrimps death and no sudden algae growth that is out of control..
i currently have about 10 odd goldfish, 10 odd guppies and 10 odd ghost shrimps, 3 siamese algae eaters and a pleco in the tank. Supposed to also have 3 false spider crab that came "free" with the moss ball i bought, but not sure if they survived.
i do partial water change every 2-3 weeks.

This post has been edited by kevin613: Jan 5 2016, 11:18 AM

hi, how big is your tank?

I'd say yes, nonstop, uninterrupted period of time for maximum photosynthesis, but not exceeding 10-12 hours. Plant need to rest too.

I also haven't tried timing change. The most I did before is moving forward from 10am to 8am, around that time range, a few hours plus and minus, nothing dramatic for the plant.

For your case, it's possible, but you need to give the plant plenty of time to adapt. For example, slowly moving from 7pm to 12am. I do read some really busy aquascappers who came back home at late night, they reverse the time so they can enjoy the aquarium when they're back from work.