Is this rotting?

[mr.bigglesworth]

well i accidentally left it out and all 3 plants turned to a crisp and died. woops. just threw them out.

 

[davdev]

Also remember that unless you have a co2 injection system you can only have as many plants as your fish produce waste to feed.

Uhm, wrong. Fish waste has nothing to do with the CO2 process, and while planted tanks grow faster with CO2, it certainly is not needed for most plants. A good substrate and proper lighting are the most important parts of a planted tank. I use capped potting soil and plant growth is fantastic, if not terribly fast