South American aquatic plants?

Hi, I'm setting up a South American Biotope in my 16 gallon aquarium. It's been set up for about a year, and I've been keeping fish for about ten years. I'm going to stain the water a tea colour; The bog wood in my tank currently hasn't stained it yet, so if you could help me that would be great. I'd like a few kinds of South American plants, I'd like some big and some small. I like c carpeting plants, like hair gr. Would that look nice? I'm making my own C02 unit, so the plants will grow quicker than they currently do. It's homed to about 30 Endler guppies at the moment, a breeding colony. I'm selling most. How many watts should the lighting be for the plants? Also, I'm stocking the tank with One male ram, six cardinal tetra's, three endler guppies and four otocinclus. I have two at the moment. I know it might be too many fish, but I always over stock my tanks and they do fine with weekly water changes. Thanks in advance. I hope you can help me.