Once you have decided on a method, you should read up as much as you can on the method, ask around if you wish, see what the general consensus might be about it.

I divide several methods into roughly 4 arbitrary groupings:

1.Non CO2 fully planted tanks with lower lighting(2w/gal or less): good for lazy but smart folks or folks that know they just do not have as much time to garden and tend their tanks. The growth is slow so the work is less. I personally love this method.

2. "Excel" planted tanks, this is not CO2, but offers plants some carbon to increase their growth rates. It also is good for inhibiting algae for any planted tank. Low light works very in conjunction with this method. Moderate growth rates and easy to keep tanks.

3. Low light CO2 plant tanks. These offer excellent gardening growth rates with less work. Many winning aquascapes are in this group.

4. High light CO2 enrichment, lots of growth and demand. Can be very time consuming to keep and maintain the tank in a stable state over the long term.
It does not imply that this method is in any way better, from a management perspective, it's actually much worse.

Once you have chosen and goal, explain that goal to other folks when you ask questions and seek advice. Tell them that you use CO2 or not, how large is the tank, how much plant biomass you have, what fertilizers you are adding, and they will be much better able to help you.

CO2 scares new folks and many try everything under the sun to avoid it's use while claiming to want to increase plant growth by adding lots of light.
There is good intention, but this is a recipe for algae virtually every time and lot of frustration. Learn to use CO2 if you even think you want to add more light.
It's not hard nor that costly over time.

Plant biomass: do not wait for the plants to grow in and fill in the tank, do not add one small sword plant and expect it to have the same effect as 300 stem plants.
Pack the tank from day one, do not be cheap on this part. Many are fearful and thus only add a few plants to see if they grow, sometimes they do, many times they get covered with algae after awhile. By adding a lot of plants, you reduce algae. They block the light, they remove the NH4 that induces algae spores to germinate rapidly and provides for a much better environment for your fish.

Even some seasoned plant hobbyists sometimes forget to add enough plant biomass themselves. If you are worried about losing the plants or killing them, they are much easier to bring back from algae or other issues and are pretty cheap(use the cheapy plants if you are scare, but use a lot of them). You should do your homework and read up on what you need to do prior to getting the aquarium set up for plants.

A good start will prevent added labor and cost later, do it right the first time.


Regards,
Tom Barr

There are articles here on the BarrReport that address most methods. You are new to this, so give yourself a break, you are learning and things will be tough at first for you to understand. Most hobbies have a steep learning curve, do not give up and quit.

While some might be a heavy read, do not be fearful of chemical names. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate after all, we only use a few fertilizers, perhaps 4 at most, so it's not that bad. Potash of nitrate is KNO3, farmers add it to grow wheat etc.
Just know you may need to add a few things to help the plants grow.

Getting familiar with the names and acronyms is par for the course.

Here's a listing of those acronyms:

Those chemical names and acroynms! Add more if you see one I missed!!!

PlantGeek.net - Glossary

Homework:

[The Krib] Aquatic Plants

Aquaria FAQ

Steve's site is excellent:
Aquarium Plants | My views, Steve Hampton, on how to succeed with aquarium plants

DFW Aquatic Plant Club - Articles

SFBAAPS References Page

Aquatic Gardeners Association : Aquatic Plant Links

AquaticQuotient.com

Rex's:
Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks

AquaticQuotient.com

Aquarium Advice :: View Topic - Read This First: Resources and References





Please note, the goal of my site is to offer new plant folks a place to learn, but most sites address newer folks already, we are primarily interested in advancing folks beyond the newbie stages and on to the advanced stages which is rarely addressed on various forums. Thus we tend to discuss more specific in depth topics and I put out a review articles each month that goes into detail about various topics related to planted aquariums.

But there is also no reason why we cannot help new folks also
So do some background reading first, then ask questions next.

Regards,
Tom Barr