[houseofcards]

... plants came as separate leaves wraped together in a lead weight. so i plucked the plantlets off the leaves and planted them in the gravel with the only the roots in the gravel.

Is the rhizome above the gravel line? Are you familiar with java fern?

 

[houseofcards]

Even for java fern that 9watt bulb is incredibly weak and growth will be very slow. The existing leaves will probably not make it through the transition. I think your best bet is to cut off most of the existing leaves this will allow the plant to channel more energy to new leaves and allow more light to hit the rhizome.

 

[houseofcards]

I would agree with you... except the OP said there's only 1 leaf per rhizome (which is part of why I was questioning the source of the plants, b/c I personally wouldn't send out only one leaf on a rhizome...)

I think a 9 watt bulb may be OK for a 5gal tank if it's a tube or U-shaped bulb. Probably not if it's a spiral, though. And sounds like the bulb probably does need replacing.

I didn't see that. That first post is kinda confusing, but if the leaves are all brownish, if that is the case, I don't think they have any chance so I would still cut them all off and take my chances with just the rhizome. I did this a few times with Bolbitis and I grew some incredible pieces, but again that was with co2 and good light.