I already said (I think) that I don't keep any live plants. But that is only because I fail at growing them. I'm not sure why...it's just one of those things. I am great at taking care of animals, but when it comes to plants? They hate me.
That being said; I just wanted to throw my opinion out there on some things that were mentioned.
Plants shouldn't smell, at least bad. Now if they are rotting? Well, yes, maybe. I've yet to come across anything that was rotting that DIDN'T smell. Though I imagine with a heavily planted tank it might smell like a forest kinda (live plant keepers, chime in)? I like that kind of smell, but as in beauty, it is in the "nose" of the beholder!
I'm sure some plants might be expensive. And as well, any time you order anything online and must pay shipping cost that will add up. But in the end, at least where I'm from, live plants cost much less than artificial plants. I could get a starter java fern for approximately 1/3 the cost of a silk or plastic plant where I am from.
As Nick said, you don't need sunlight to grow plants, just an appropriate
WPG for the plants you are keeping. Keeping live plants in a tank also tend to
reduce algae, as the live plants will use up dissolved nutrients that the algae would utilize. There are types of algae that can bloom or even thrive at lower light levels, almost making live plants a necessity unless you feel like getting the scrubber out constantly.
Given all that, I would LOVE to keep live plants. But when I last did, and managed to kill Hornwort and even Java Moss; I figured the plant-killing gene in my DNA was too strong to keep anything green alive. Boo.
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