Thanks all for your kind comments. I posted the pics to show one can do plants both simple and easy or else complex and hard work. But there is one truth about either of the tanks in those pictures. The best filter one can have is a well planted tank with about 3 inches of substrate. I am a split personality fish keeper. Of my current 20 tanks, 6 are planted and 14 are not. The 14 are all for breeding and growing out plecos (some are even bare bottom) the planted tanks are all community tanks. Some of these have the next best filter after live plants- a Hamburg Mattenfilter.
I am not a fan of a lot of what I consider to be way over-priced substrate or fancy equipment for CO2. I ran mine 24/7 with no controller. I pushed my pressurized CO2 directly into the Eheim canister and used a few power compact lights. I fertilized once a week in he water column after weekly water changes and used the Jobe's in the substrate. I used inexpensive substrate. This worked great for me. But it is my way and not the only or even the best way. One has to learn what works for them and then go with it.
I do plants because they benefit the fish. They keep the water healthy, they provide cover for the fish and they look nice. But I am first and foremost a fish keeper not a plant keeper. If the plants provided no benefits for the fish, I would probably not have live plants. However, I kept both flower and vegetable gardens for many years before getting my first tank. This helped a lot when I decided to keep plants in glass boxes instead of in an outdoor garden.
One more thing. Planted tanks are like anything else in life. You start off with little knowledge and no experience. Then you work your way up the learning curve. In this case you start simple and learn by experience so you can increase the complexity and difficulty of what plants you keep as you do. I would no more suggest one have a high tech, pressurized CO2 added setup for their 1st planted tank than I would suggest one learn how to drive by starting out in an Indy 500 race car. First you crawl, then you walk, then you run. Try to cut short the learning curve for anything and you will most likely fall on your face.
@ the loach that pic you quoted was a pressurized CO2 added tank. The second, less colorful tank pic in my post was a low light with no CO2 added. However, all my planted tanks, except for the CO2 added one, have gotten Flourish Excel added weekly since day one.