I have only the small rounded natural gravel as my substrate in my 75 gal and the plants are doing pretty good. I need to trim the bacopia and wisteria or they grow along the surface and shade out the other plants. One of my swords already produced a daughter plant and is growing very nicely! I do supplement with flourish, flourish excel, and flourish iron as needed.
My lighting is the ecoxotic e-120 full spectrum 48-inch, I upgraded from the basic led that came with the tank and it has made a huge difference.
When setting up my tank I wish I would have gotten a different substrate, but I'm making the best with what I have and the plants are really doing well so I can't complain. I do have about a 1.5-2 inch deep bed of gravel which helps to be able to anchor the plants in and let their roots spread.