[davemonkey]

The large plant in the right/rear is an amazon sword. I see some Cryptocoryne wendtii (the reddish/brown colored medium plants) , what appears to be some stems of Ludwigia, and the plant at the rear under the filter intake...is that an Anubias ?

Anyway, the plants look healthy. If they aren't growing it may be from lack of nutrients (N,P,K, and micronutrients, and a carbon source). I didn't see any algae except on the plant in the rear. 10,000K is fine for planted tanks, but it's watts per gallon that will have the greater impact on growth. What type of light do you have and how many watts?

-Dave

 

[davemonkey]

Here is a link to a thread posted by niko with a great article linked to it.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/new-planted-aquariums/8790-basics.html

 

[davemonkey]

You don't have to do CO2, but if you want good growth you should have SOME type of carbon source. Seachem makes 'Flourish Excel' for a carbon source to go along with their other liquid supplements. There are also people using gludaraldehyde (spelling?) in a dilution. (See the link below)

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...iasts/31615-glutaraldehyde-instead-excel.html

You substrate is fine. If you read through the substrate forum on this site you'll see that it's a matter of preference, opinion, and goals as far as substrate goes. What you've got will work, unless you decide to try some foreground carpet-like plants. They are usually hard to plant in a more coarse substrate like gravel.