Redid my setup over the weekend. Thought I'd take some pictures of how I setup my emersed tanks for anyone interested. This time I added a layer of sphagnum peat moss for the hell of it. Maybe it'll make things grow better.
First layer is cut up sphagnum moss which absorbs water and keeps everything moist/humid.

next I scatter some osmocote fertilizer into the sphagnum moss so when the roots do make it down there, there's some nutrients.
then i lay down a layer of sphagnum peat moss by miracle gro

then I add the main substrate: turface! It's super easy to work with and when I'm working in the tanks it doesn't get messy like dirt does. The turface was just washed so it's wet.

put on my cover which is really just a plastic sheet and a pane of glass and add some water and I'm set! I add enough water so the substrate is moist but there's no water line. Too much water just leads to fungus and bacteria. After putting in some water I leave it for an hour or so for the moss on the bottom to soak up all the water and then add more if need be. the moss on the bottom basically acts as a sponge for all the water and is useful to prevent overwatering.
the light is just a typical cheap work light that I modified with some wire so that it has a neck. I use 19 or 23 W daylight bulbs in them and the tank is a 6 gallon bowfront.