a method that works very well: if you research out adding worms to your drain and fill aquaponics grow bed or biofilter (which is what i would recommend if you are more interested in aquatic plants) and set it up with a bell siphon that can be easily done in a 6" deep tray add the worms and the biofilter can be your sump and the "worm" filtered water would be returned via cascade of some sort for oxygenation into the planted aquarium.
in another life i prodeuced thousands of discus and usually kept one amazon sword per breeder tank. some of these single swords filled 90gal aquariums. i kept them planted in plastic pots planted in steer manure. id did very frequent water changes that eliminated the buildup of nitrates, minimum 50% every other day