Reworking an old tank

[Ender97]

I started this 55 Gal tank around 15 years ago. Its had good times and bad but about to redo it with the largest change it has ever had. I want to get more live plants into it. This has proven to be a bit of a challenge.  Last year I added some plant friendly substrate and purchased a a kit of live plants. What I got was a few bags of substrate several small puck size containers that contained plant clipping and a bottle of fertilizer along with some other assorted tools. The Duckweed lasted just over a month before all of it died, of the rest of the plants only some of the moss survived even that long. My Pleco's would not let them alone to allow them to root and since they are as old as the tank I am not getting rid of them. Where I live in South Eastern New Mexico the water here is just about the hardest in the country per the USGS.  The water stains on the back should be some indication of how hard the water is as I clean them off every few months. The air here is also very dry. I tend to add 7 to 10 gal of water every other week or so. I have not added fish in about a year and most in the tank are 7 or older. The pregnant Zebra Danio is probably 7 or 8. My question is this, with the goal of making this tank more plant friendly and perhaps more friendly to other types of fish, hard water is hell. What steps should I take and what plants are going to be advised. 

[zeke_the_plecco]

Nice looking good! dont know what ur revamping from but even so it has a refreshed feel about it. also i sense a similarity in your style of scaping to mine. kind of a trip cuz urs feels so much like a 20 long i did 6 months back, same air stone in the back and everything. keep up the natural underwater story flow i like it!

[Ender97]

The pictures are what it looks like now, I am wanting to get rid of the plastic plants and replace them with live plants.