I have a small 1.5 gal planted tank and I am using offshoots from Java Fern, a small piece of driftwood. The other plants are water wisteria and hornwort. The tank has a fancy guppy and 2 Pygmaeus Cory Cats.
At first there was a problem with the flourite substrate but I transfered some malaysian trumpet snails and now I am not getting a major problem with nitrates as long as I do water changes twice a week. (about 16-20 ounce changes.)
Ray