Thanks for the info. I was never into real plants but was thinking of
doing my next tank with them. I've always had lots of plastic ones and
i love UGFs. (My pl*co LOVES the "ugly lift tubes", as did my angel).
SO who knows what I'll do when I finally set up my next tank but at
least now I'll have more info whichever way I go!

Thanks,
Ben

Ben, I was big pleco guy till I got into plants a bit too much. I used
deep 2-3 mm sand for my substrate which many of the plecos seemed to
like that I had. Many like to dig. the samd was too fine to have a
regular plate style UG so I made my own CPVC 1/2 pipe grid and ran it
reverse with a maxi jet powerhead.

This works very well and cost at most 10$ for even the largest of
UG's. Plastic plants with a good crust of green algae look nice and
was something I strove for on my rocks/wood etc.
Floating water sprite is a nice plant they will not eat and grows easy
even if you don't do anything different than you are now. Makes nice
shaded spots in the tank for fish. Soaks up NO3 etc.

I kept many plants over the years without doing anything special. Most
did pretty good. Water sprite, a few Crypts, moss, java fern, Anubias
etc.

You can get into plants at whatever level you so choose. There are no
"rules":-)

The plants will be here when you are ready.
Regards,
Tom Barr