Tips on planted aquaria startup

[Rich Schiek <rschiek at pobox_com>]

In the next month or so I'll be moving into a place where I'll actually 
have space for a 50 gallon aquarium.  Thus, I'm looking for advice on 
good practices to use when starting up a new, planted tank, i.e. those 
things you should do to avoid big algae problems while trying to cycle a 
tank.

Having only ever started up two small planted aquaria (a 10 gallon and a 
15 gallon tank), I'm sure there are mistakes I made that would have been 
serious problems with say a 50 gallon tank.  Also, I've seen the LFS 
give terrible advice to a friend of mine when he started his 30 gallon 
planted aquaria. (such as don't add any plants until the fish have 
cycled the tank!)

What advice exactly am I looking for?  Answers to the following and any 
other advice you might have as well:

--If a tank has good or strong lighting (2 to 4 watts per gallon) is it 
a good idea to only run the lights for short period of time during the 
first few weeks.

--Is it best to introduce the plants to the aquaria for a few weeks 
before you add any fish?

--Is it a good idea to start CO2 fertilization from the start, or should 
one wait a week  for the plants to start to root.

--While root tablets are a good way to avoid putting too many nutriants 
in the water column, should liquid fertilizers be used on a new tank, or 
held off until later?

--Should partial water changes be done from the start, or should one 
wait until the tank has cycled?

Thanks for your help!

Rich Schiek
Albuquerque, New Mexico