I used to have a planted but it leaked on me. This is a new one since, I threw the landscape together for this one on a cheap budget. It's a 65 gallon tank that has been up for about 8 months or so.

Filteration: EHIEM 2217 + HOB 50
Lighting : 29wx2 HO 6700k/1800k actinic

I would like to have a planted tank with a dense grass covering and lots of plant growth and keep these fish, I know they are probably going to dig around and what not and that is something I'll have to work around.

What would be a good way to approach this

how can i get the soil to the bottom? I don't want to empty my tank, maybe one side soil one side sand.
How much light should I increase it by?

here are it's inhabitants
http://imgur.com/a/KUpdQ#0

For what you want to do planting in Clay pots, hide them in the rocks, and put small pebbles on the open areas on the pots next to the plants.

You can make it look like the plants are growing out from between the rocks. I;ve seen it done and it can look nice and work.

Anything else, I really don't think will work.

why not use rhizome plants such as mosses, ferns, and anubias? Just make sure they are attached to the rocks or driftwood really well. Plus you wouldn't have to upgrade anything except swapping out those actinics. With those plants pressurized co2 wouldn't be needed (wouldn't hurt), but just dosing excel would get the job done.

God point, sometimes I judy have Crypts on the brain and forget about the other plant options.