I've seen people coat bamboo in epoxy to make a water safe ornament, but I am sure there are other ways; just a thought.
A powerful flourescent bulb might be different in your mind than in your plants mind. Depending how many watts (usually printed on the bulb) and the spectrum you might be limited to certain plants.
The best analogy I give to beginners is think of a planted tank like a car. For simplicity we divide it into 3 types: a go-cart, a sedan, and a highly tuned race car.
Go Karts are simple and relatively easy to maintain. For plants you are looking at 1-2 WPG lighting (watts per gallon), no fertilizers, no CO2 injection, etc. Many people who just want to add plants for ornamental purposes like this idea. While this may sound nice you are limited to how fast you can drive (or what plants you can keep). Popular low light plants are anubias sp., anachris, certain kinds of hygro (see sunset hygrophilia, it's really cool and I am determined it will grow in toilet water), some kinds of crypts, etc. There are actually more than people give credit for.
Then you have a sedan. It can certainly go faster than a go kart, but requires more work (think of how much more complex the enginge is!). Looking around 3 WPG, general ferts (maybe a general micronutrient dose such as SeaChems Flourish being very popular and some Excel made by the same company to add some carbon to the tank). This is where people start adding more fish to help add more nitrogen by-products to be consumed by plants as the photosynthesis will be more rapid and more nutrients sucked up. IMO (as some people think these go other ways, either higher light or lower) fall some cabombas, valisnerias, sword plants, etc.
Then you have the race car. Higher octane fuel, and very high maintenance. 4-5+ wpg, injection CO2, and a very strict fert schedule (dosing individual micro- and macro-nutrients depending on plant needs). Most of your foreground plants fall into this (glosso and HC). As well as moneywort and a score of other plants (including all the others in the before categories). Photosynthesis will be rapid and growth will be crazy. Most people who have these types of tanks spend quite a bit of time pruning every week.
This is just a general idea, and not exact (disclaimer for you nit pickers!). Just trying to help someone get hooked into the best part (IMHO at least) of this hobby!
