Morning all,
I'm going to check levels in my tank in just a little bit to see where we are with the cycling, but was on line checking different prices on filter inserts and chemicals. So far, the best prices I have found are with Aquarium Guys. With that being said, there are a million different chemicals out there to purchase. I wish I had done my homework first before I went shopping, because I think I bought a few chemicals I really didn't need (but I was going off the booklet from the aquarium kit) They recommended I buy (which I did) Nutrafin "cycle", Nutrafin "plant gro" and Nutrafin "waste control" and I also purchased Aqueon "water conditioner"-so along with the Master Test kit, these are the chemicals I currently have. What chemicals do you feel are a must, what don't I need and would you add something else, do you prefer another brand and if so, why? This subject may have been posted somewhere else and I'm still in the process of reading thru all the great posts. This forum has helped me a lot and I can see so many things I did wrong in the beginning of fish ownership. I just sent an email out to a friend with this link for the forum so she can get helpful hints as well. Thanks again in advance for your replies.
Debbie

I use aquasafe water conditioner for water changes
and easybalance as a buffer, which means I only need to gravel clean my tank....each week 10% rather than 50%...great stuff

I use Aqueon conditioner too and Petsmart's generic bacteria. I also keep Melafix on hand in case I have an injury.

remember to add the fish gradually, as each fish will affect the balance of the Tank, forcing it into a mini-cycle . And as Nossie says lots of water changes after you add new fish. Some people recommend at least every other day

All the java ferns I have bought from petsmart just have a hard little clump of dark roots but they are all thriving and rooting anyways.

It's that patience thing again 

They just didn't look healthy when they came out of the package. Some of the leaves at the bottom were falling off, some broken stems and there weren't very many roots to begin with. They may come back, but they didn't have as many roots as I expected them too. I'm not giving up though, and will continue to plant a few more in the next couple of weeks 
 

Good luck with the plants Orandagal

With chemicals, I recently started using Stress Coat as my water conditioner, it also contains aloe vera so should there be any injury, I just double the dosage to make the aloe vera concentrated enough and it can help the fish heal.
I also use Stress Zyme, which is my beneficial bacteria.

My previous water conditioner was called Tap Safe, but it was sold in such small bottles, I would have been buying them by the bucket load to keep up with the large tank, so I switched over to something which was sold in larger quantities 
I did use in the very beginning this stuff called Fish Safe, that said it would clean the tank water and I was supposed to add it in between water changes. But really I stopped using it after about the first week.
In my opinion an actual water change is going to be more helpful than dumping chemicals in the water.