Lighting and co2 questions

[MandyINCo]

Here are the plants I have:

Indian Red Sword
Amazon Sword
Water Wisteria
Java Fern
Anubias (not sure which type)

Here's my DIY co2 setup:

2L bottle mixture of 1tsp yeast & 2cups sugar.
17oz overflow bottle zip-tied to 2L
Check-valved hose running into tank with fine air stone hanging just below the filter intake.
I just finished setting this up about an hour ago.

Here's the current lighting setup:

24" Aqueon Floramax 17W bulb in hood.
2-15W bulbs set up externally about 8" away from side of tank where plants are.
This setup is only temporary until I can afford a better fixture.

I froze about 10 Osmocote granules and placed them under the substrate where the plants are. Substrate is natural and black gravel. I also added Nutrafin Plant Gro.

OKay, questions are, how is this lighting setup for now. Too much? Not enough? I have no idea.

And, how is my co2 setup? I followed instructions from a diagram I found online. What are signs of fish distress from co2?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MandyINCo]

Oh, and a few side notes....

I did all of this because some of my plants (Indian red sword and wisteria) are getting brown spots and leaves are starting to brown. I even lost a whole Amazon Sword. What causes them to do this? Lack of co2? Not enough light? Too much light? I'm such a planted tank noob lol

Oh, and my fish seem to be obsessed with the two side lights I set up. They are vigorously swimming around in front of them. hehe

 

[MandyINCo]

Anything?? Bueller?.... Bueller??.....

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

I'm quite noobtastic myself but do you mind me asking the size of your tank?

 

[MandyINCo]

Sure it's a 29gal.

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

All of those plants are undemanding but from the info I would say lack of lighting is the main cause of the melting.

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

I'm tinkering with CO2 myself I'm going to steal that set up from you and see how it works. I'm using mainly excel.

 

[MandyINCo]

trying to upload pics of my plants and lighting setup, hope this works.

 

[MandyINCo]

this is my co2 setup.. I know that half of my photos are sideways, sorry.

 

[MandyINCo]

Bear in mind, I have had the plants in the tank under JUST the Floramax 17w bulb for about 5 days. I moved all the plants to one side of the tank and set up the additional lighting just today. The brown spots and brown leaf on the sword appeared a couple days ago.

I also just added the Osmocote today.

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

Uprooting can shock your plants as well. Cut your browning leaves at the crown so resources aren't used trying to fix the leaves. Maybe some vets will jump in and give you useful info.

 

[MandyINCo]

what is the "crown" lol im not much of a green thumb.

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

The base above the roots where certain plants start to stem like swords and vals.