I haven't had live plants for years. I am 75 and started out with fish when I was around 12 years old. I started out with live plants and they grew like weeds. Wonderful! This was easy! I had my tank in a Eastern window. Then later on when my parents moved and my setup were different the story changed. I had a lot of problems. The bottom line to all of it was what is important is lighting, lighting/lighting, lighting and hardness compaired to what kind of hardness the plant wanted. Today I realize hardness is important, but then also have direct sun light which then causes you to have green algie problems or, go with some not too cheap really good lighting. Using those inexpensive small fluo rescent tank lighting hoods are not going to be able to produce enough light for any great plant growth if you actually have any at all. You do need some serious lighting. Cheap i ncandesant lamps seem to work better then fluo rescent in small tank hoods. But then you have more electricity used and have to deal with more heat produced by the lamp. Seems like nutrients in the sand never seem to be a problem and offer enough plant food if the tank has been established for a fair amount of time. I have heard plants don't do as well when using an underground under the sand filter. I guess what I am saying about all this is "lighting seems to be the one item many hobbiests struggle over when trying to raise healthy strong plants. They sure are gorgeous over having plastic ones in your tanks.
Lee
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