kh and ph

Question
I have a 20 gallon long, witch I going to soon replace with a larger aquarium. The fish I have are...

4 cherry barbs
4 serpah tetras
2 reedfish
2 koolie loaches
1 weather loach
1 common pleco which I will be gitting rid of
1 tiger pleco
1 brushy nose pleco
1 dwarf blue gourami

All of my fish never touch my plants. Most of the time they leave them alone. I have been mixing different water sources in my house together and I think I have come up with the perfect water for plants. I'm going to start using it once I have enough. I never have tested the water for my aquarium untill now. The ph ok, its just the kh and gh. With the water i'm going to start using, plants should start to grow.
If you have any reccomendations on what to do that would be great
Thanks
Nick

Answer
Hi Nick,
It sounds like you have it down pretty well. Maybe the little fish don't eat plants like the big ones do. My suggestion is that if a plant starts to show signs of dying, pull it out immediately before it starts to break down. You will probably just have to replace the plants that die. I've never known plants to grow in tanks. It always seemed more like a vase of flowers that starts to die as soon as you get it home.
Keep up the good work.
Nori