It's so funny reading all the new stuff on keeping fish. I don't have a clue as to what they're talking about and have found myself searching thru photos and all only to find it and go "heck I tossed that out long ago".
I had a heavily planted tank(s) and never had a problem with plants. In fact they just seemed to be everywhere. I did have a green water problem in one tank but since that was used for raising babies I never really gave it a thought. My main problem was getting rid of baby fish. I had several sets breeding angels which insisted on laying eggs every month without fail. My 8 year old corys decided to lay eggs in my Oscar tank... all over the place. He never bothered them... ate everything else in sight.
I was really involved with the Kuhli loaches - which at that time no one had any clue on what their breeding was like. I wrote Dr Axelrod asking telling him that I thought the greenish color in the body of one of my loaches might have been eggs and did he have any thoughts regarding this. That led to the opportunity of meeting Dr Axelrod and touring his place in Jersey City at the time. I was fortunate enough to meet everyone involed with TFH at that time and surpriseingly was offered a job which I couldn't take at that time. Times have changed so. Now it seems that breeding Kuhlis is not a problem but getting healthy ones is...
Once I get the tank set up later in the fall my new problem will be getting fish. The area I live in does not have a local pet store or anywhere to buy fish so I do need to be even more careful in what I buy. I think for that reason alone I will give the fishless cycling a try. I want to be sure that there won't be a problem when the fish arrive. Right now I have gotten a small 2 gallon Betta tank which I am debating doing a cycle on. It does have a filter. I'm wondering if I set the tank up with a fish, a snail and some plants and just do a water change for the first couple of weeks and then start up the filter if that would be an answer to getting around the cycling problem. That would allow the bacteria to start while keeping the amonia down with a partial water change. The filter would be hooked up but just not turned on for the first week or so. I guess I do need to look into a water monitoring system of sorts. I am thinking in terms of using this tank on down the line as a seeder for the larger tank.
In all the years I kept fish, I never once checked the ph readings or any type of water reading other than the temperature. In ten years I think I had one problem with ick and that was taken care of immediately. When a fish died it was usually from being eaten or old age. I definitely overstocked the aquarium according to today's standards but my angels still bred, as did the gouramis, bettas, cats, etc. The neons were 5 or 6 and huge as were the cardinals, the cats were over 12 when I stopped. A majority of my fish were between the ages of 5 and 10... for some that's old. They were moved from house to house. My only real problem with that was when my brother didn't feed them enough and my oscar decided to take matters into his own hands. He ate what and who he could before we discovered what was going on. He got his own tank then.
Forty years ago I raised and bred many varieties of tropical fish. At that time there was nothing about "tank cycling". You set up your aquarium, put in your live plants, added water and waited a day. The following day you added fish and off you went. You cleaned your filters completely and put in new charcoal and filter floss weekly. The fish were rarely sick, bred like crazy and lived long lives. My catfish bred for the first time when they were 10 years old. My Oscar was about 2 pounds - huge fish - and about 8 when he died thru an accident. I had Kuhli Loaches - which I loved - and wrote to Dr Axelrod concerning the fact that I thought they were carrying eggs. That led to a wonderful meeting with everyone at TFH at that time.
Everyone will help you welcome back to fish keeping. 
gOod Luck
