IMO it's easier to do a first planted in a 20 long or 30. Why? Because it will fit almost perfectly a shoplight from your local hardware store. You can even get up to high light levels (which you shouldn't try unless you can do Co2 injection and ferts... by high I mean 3 and up WPG) using a shoplight.
with a ten, you can buy an incadescent hood that uses two screw in bulbs, but replace the incandescents with flourescent screw ins for tanks (which you can buy at walmart). With this light, you can do low light plants in schultz aquatic plant soil (also available at walmart) flourite, or a flourite gravel mix (all relatively inexpensive, aquatic plant soil is least expensive). For low light plants you can try:
Java fern
Java moss
anubias
falsa rotala indica
nitella
riccia
you can try 'mexican oakleaf' which is a hygro species
swords
crypts
floaters such as salvinia
some of the grassy foregrounds
If you really want to check out some cool aquatic plant tanks, look at the photo albums on aquaticplantcentral.com... not trying to plug another site for no reason, this site is devoted purely to aquatic plant
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