Well, to address the poll, which is general, the rule is not to add the plants "at any time". As I stated above.
As far as how I did it, I can address this and give you my experience. First, about one week prior to getting fish, I added some plants: amazon swords and anubias. Then a little later after I added fish, I added some more plants, this time I added some more amazon swords and anacharis. At this time I noticed a slight build up of Black Beard Algae (which in a low light tank like I have meant fluctuating CO2 levels and in sufficient circulation). I was able to deal with this problem in two ways - first, since I was adding fish to a partially cycled filter with additional fully cycled media and a few more fish to bring the numbers up to the proper level for the variety I had - I was doing partial water changes on a fairly regular basis to keep the ammonia levels well below 0.25ppm. I only actually measured it once at 0.25ppm, but I was doing a partial (30-50%) water change every 3 days. So, I stopped changing the water so much, as the CO2 levels in the tap water were higher than the levels of the tank water. I also was able to finally add the second filter I had ordered for the tank and the circulation level of the tank was doubled. The BBA disappeared without me having to do a thing to remove it.
The down side is that I believe that I actually added far too much anacharis for my level of trace elements in the water. Most of the anacharis actually melted back and I have since removed it. Of the original 4 bunches that I added to the tank, only one bunch has survived and grown from this original purchase. I've found a spot in my tank that it thrives, and since my panda cories have chosen to lay eggs there twice already, I will always make sure that there is anacharis in that spot. (Of course, since increasing those totals to 11 with the purchase of 6 more on Friday night, I really don't have the need to have them breed in the future. But, I like the fact that I saw them breeding and the fact that such a difficult fish to get to breed was happy enough in the tank to be breeding makes me happy about them. I've lost a few fish since I got this tank fully going. I lost the sick zebra danio. I also lost all three of the harlequins that I rescued as well, but I have no idea exactly how old they were, and the stress of moving tanks might have been too much for them. Two of these passed while the tank was under the care of my dad. He told me that my ammonia and nitrite levels were at zero the entire time, but the temps did climb up to 80F during that time. I had the A/C in the house going because I knew it would get hot, but I didn't keep it as low as I normally would have if we had been living there. And I lost one cory from the original purchase I made. That one was a bit odd from the beginning, I think it was just a weak animal. He was a bit smaller than the others from the beginning, far less active than the others and always paler. The others have all thrived thus far. And my levels have been excellent. I am getting a few amazon sword leaves that are dying back still. I just trim them off when I notice them during a weekly water change (of course, that's the only time I am around them right now, given my crazy summer work schedule - my wife is caring for the tank in my absence - aka feeding as I have prescribed). It is an excellent looking tank, in my opinion
. I rescaped slightly with the new additions and have set up the tank to have better visual access to the back corner that the cories have made their primary resting place. And I've added a few "hiding" places that are a bit more visible in the front of the tank, in an effort to have better sight of the individuals.
I hope that this helps with what I would suggest in regards to adding plants. (If not, here it is: add them immediately before adding fish (like 24 hours - which is how I voted in the poll) and be prepared for some of the plants to die back a bit. Be prepared to need to move them around a bit as needed based on their needs and the flow of your tank, as well as the lighting. Remove dead leaves as soon as possible to limit ammonia build-up from that, and expect snails. Snails are going to hitchhike on the plants, even if they are "snail-free". What I have found this means is that you are not being charged for the snails that are hiding with the plants. I have noticed a few little snails in my tank, but I'm not too worried about them. My son enjoys the game of trying to find them. They come out at different times, but primarily when the lights are off.)
