You will need light bulbs made for growing aquarium plants. Or you might be able to get away with sticking the tank next to a window. The down fall to that is the burst in algae growth.
Its also good to get some water supplements for the plants. The doses are not much so a bottle will last you a long time for an 8 gallon.
Start out with easy small plants.
I have planted aquarium plants in a 10 gallon with regular gravel with no problem.
If you have an undergravel filter this will probably not work.

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