Can I add plants to my tank?

[TiggertheOscar]

Hey guys, I thought I would try to get some preliminary advice on my next challenge.

I have 125 gallon setup with sand substrate. The tank includes 3 Oscars, a couple Bala's, a Pleco, a Fire Eel, and a Feather-finned catfish.

My challenge is I want to add some plants to the tank, mainly in the background. I am new to planting in an aquarium, and need to know a few things prior to just adding any ol' plant that I think would look good in the tank.

I just splurged and bought 3 24" light fixtures that house 4 T5 bulbs, in each one there are 2 power-glo's and 2 6700K bulbs. For a total of 288 watts. Is this enough?
I cannot afford (and maybe I don't want to?) to buy a Co2 system. Is it necessary to have this system for a handful of plants?

Through my limited research I encountered topics such as current and air injection etc. What else do I need besides lighting to have healthy plants?

And also what, if anything, do I need to do to my substrate to prepare? Are potted plants better for me? And also what types of plants meeting my lighting criteria would you advise?

For filtration I have 2 Biowheel 350B's and a Fluval FX5. I also have an air wand mainly for decoration (My Oscar's love to bask in it from time to time!).

Thanks for your help, and I will keep pics and maybe a mini-journal to keep you up to date on this.

Oh and by the way, I am well aware of the Oscar's being notorious for "re-decorating", but for some reason mine do not. Even when I had a crapload of fake plants in their tank. Even so maybe potted is the way to go?

 

[RexyTexel]

I'd still be careful with the oscars. Fish can act differently towards plants once they realize they're real. Our pacus at my work always eat the plants that fall into the tank but leave the fake plants alone.

 

[Newman]

oscars are known to uproot and aquascape on their own lol! it can be as frustrating as keeping plants around Mbuna or goldfish...make sure you don't go with any grassy plants. they will pull those up.

 

[OrangeCones]

Balas and Oscars are known live plant uprooters (if that is a word).

You have medium-high light (WPG rules were made for T12 and you have more efficient T5s).

Your fish are high waste producers, so you will have high natural 'fertilizer' in the water.

Your use of an airwand will off-gas any CO2 in the water column, so you'd need to go with another way to get the plants carbon.

Using Excel may work, but I fear that despite this, you may have algae problems.

Keeping plants alive may be a challenge. I'd go for some large Amazon Swords and put larger pebbles around the base to discourage digging, if it were me.

Soil capped with gravel in pots with plants planted in the pots may work. The plants can use the soil as their carbon source.