planted tank woes

Question
I've had a very sparce planted aquarium for about 1 year, and have never had any problems with algae, but can't seem to keep several plants in particular. If i wanted to keep plants like "babies tears" or micro swords or flame moss do i need some sort of high output light setup? What about a CO2 reactor/diffuser? I am trying to set up a DIY reaction chamber for the CO2 but i am not sure of the measurements. I'm using a 1 Liter soda bottle. Currently my light fixture is a simple "plant" bulb. I think its around 18 watts above my 29 gallon tank.

My tank is fully stocked with fish and they seem to really like the live plants but the plants turn transparent and then die. The only couple of plants that seem to thrive are java moss, java fern, and some strange small leafy plant i found at the local pet shop unlabled.

As a college student I cannot afford to spend a large sum of money on lighting or a fancy co2 system setup. What can I do?

One last question. There's a website called ahsupply.com where they carry the base components to build a DIY lighting fixture to whatever specs you might need. Are you familiar with them and their claims? Are their setups a viable option?

Thanks.

Answer
Hey bud,

You got 3 problems your underlite, you got nutrient deficientcies and you have no addition of co2.

First off lighting: you need about 2.7 watts.. i'd suggest to start which equalss.... 29gallon x 2.7watts per gallon(wpg) = 78 watts of lighting (remember you need 6700 K rated bulbs) i'd go with T5 or T8 (dont worry it will make sence when you checkout lighting) That should help you ALOT with plants...

Second off you need co2... it's a must have, nutrifin has a DIY co2 bottle and premade solution that you can buy.. and a ladder to diffuser the co2 (longer the co2 stays in the water the more contact it makes the more it dissolves) Checking your pet store for it.. they should have it. I'd start with that.. and work your way up .. dont put alot of money into somthing until you have a good idea what your buying. That diy i was talking about might be like 25$. There is somthing called seachem excell which you dose like fertilizers... but it's really carbon... (like co2) if you wanna do that in the meantime.

One more thing to keep algae at bay you will need to properly dose fertilizers into your tank. Do a googling on Estimated index, or just go to your pet store and get some seachem flourish.

Sorry i was quick with my answer but i just saw your question and i was just out the door.

You can always catch me at my new website message board www.fishaquarium.org