Hello BichirRelic,
you had lived in Germany?
It's not a German phenomena - most people think it's a lot of work to manage such tanks ... but quite the contrary: You have not to do as much partial water changes, you have a better stability of the water chemistry - and even a better look!
I will recommend the plants i'm using: Echinodorus (in English: sword plant) ... grows well and is robust - - - Anubias ... it takes a while to grow, tends to rot after been done in a new water milieu (necessary after been bought ...), but is a real African water plant!
There are also those water lenses - in swome cases a plaque, but one of the best natural nitrate killers - it will give a tank this "twilight look", the ideal light situation for bichirs! But water lenses tends to proliferate ... you have to keep care about this fact.
Greetings
Uwe