I've decided to give a try keeping live plants in my tank and have never done this before. Somehow I stumbled upon using top soil in the tank and thought that this really does make sense as plants actually grow in soil, haha! Anyway, I broke down my 90g and relocated some africans that were housed there. I was able to save the water and start the 'planted' tank. I'm not one to get high tech with things so I only have soil-gravel-lights-and for now the 2217 eheim that was running in this tank with the africans. As directed from internet 'research' I'm using about 1.5" soil and 1.5" gravel but it's not an exact measurement in various places in the tank 
....I have 2 6500K compact 30watt lights with those aluminum 'bell' reflectors just sitting on egg crate from a big box outfit. The plants have all been obtained from a public pond and so far they are reaching for the lights. The tank is 4 days old atm. I have about 45 tiny fish a 4 xtra tiny crawfish and some grass shrimp tossed in there. So far the water is normal except for a slight nitrite reading of 0.05 but I believe the bacteria in the eheim should take care of this shortly and convert that to nitrate (fingers crossed) Well here is a picture of my tank and if this one does well in the next few months then I will likely do the same with the 125g I have up and running. Live plants in aquariums with fish are amazing when it all works out right!
I've attached some pictures of the tank and the suppiles I'm using.
For now I have 5 varieties of plants, some are planted and others are floating. I'm not sure what the plant is on the far left of the picture. I just saw it growing in the water and will give it a try in the tank. I can identify the hornwhart and parrot feather, but the others are a mystery atm. As seen in the picture, I do have open space to the left and to the right that will eventually be planted but for now we'll see how this baby turns out.