Don't go smashing that tank now, Sugar. Once you get the params settled you will enjoy it so much.

remember the Lilly I had from a bulb in the Cichlid tank? It has grown so much in the fluorite sand of that tank that I had to move it today to my 55 gallon "Green Acres" tank because it was taking up 1/3 of the water's surface in the shellie tank.
I will eventually have these Lillies throughout Green Acres and may plant one in a spawning tank for the bettas to build their bubblenests under. The lilly pads on these are a lot bigger then my hand spread out and were floating so pretty at the water's surface, I almost hated to move it. Mine started out stringy too but hopefully these pics will give you something to look forward to when yours gets going.

Pic from top down and just tank lighting, no flash.



Pic with flash and a couple of the show off Rasboras.



the largest lilly pad is only 4 inches from floating at the surface of the 55 gallon tank. I wonder if you could use "Fluorish" liquid instead of the Fluorite sand just to maybe jump start your bulbs?

Sarah