A few thoughts:
1. You know, since it is only a 10g tank then all it would take would be ONE bag of a specialized plant substrate like flourite, flourite black sand, or eco-complete. So rather than spend $6-10 on a bag of pool filter sand (PFS), you could spend a little bit more ($15-20) and get a specialized substrate that will really help your plants thrive. Just something to think about. I have two planted 10g tanks with
Flourite Black Sand and I just love it--love the look of it and love how my plants grow in it. Something to think about. It's also worth mentioning that if you use PFS you are likely going to have to buy some root tabs (fertilizer tabs) to bury in the substrate anyways, and so once you figure in even one package of those, the cost savings from buying the PFS basically disappears. For people who are setting up HUGE planted tanks (55 gal, 75 gal, etc.) they basically have to get PFS because buying enough specialized substrate for tanks that large would cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. But for a 10g? My advice is don't even think twice, get a planted tank substrate. Your plants will love you for it.
2. In a planted tank, snails are a good thing. They eat decaying plant leaves (and thus help prevent those nutrients from leaching directly back into the water, which can contribute to algae blooms and also to generally unhealthy water quality). Now, some species of snails eat healthy plants and obviously you don't want those. But in general, snails and planted tanks go together. If your snail population is exploding that is a sign you are overfeeding the tank, and extra snails can easily be removed or else simply smashed against the glass where they will form a very nice and healthy snack for both fish and inverts. If you have a sand substrate, then one species of snail in particular (Malaysian Trumpet Snails, or MTS) are almost a necessity as they burrow in the sand and constantly keep the sand bed turned over, which prevents pockets of toxic gasses from building up, helps to aerate and oxygenate the sand, and helps to drag some of the fish poop down into the sand bed--which is a good thing--since it will slowly release its nutrients there where they will be available to plant roots.
3. It's hard to recommend plants (and hard to talk about ferts) without knowing your lighting level. Lighting level is going to determine what plants you can grow and will also, in general, determine how fast your plants will grow which is the big issue when it comes to ferts. In a low-light tank (~ 1 WPG) you probably could get away with no ferts at all, just relying on regular water changes to supply the trace nutrients your plants need. If you are in the 2-3 WPG range then you are starting to look at having to supplement the tank with a liquid carbon source (Flourish Excel), unless you use CO2, and will probably have to at least occasionalyl dose traces and perhaps macros (like nitrate, potassium, maybe phosphate) also. And above about 3 WPG you don't have a choice, you definitely need CO2 and a full-blown fertilizer regime.
If you tell us what light you have, or what light you are contemplating getting, then some of the plant experts here will surely be able to point you in the right direction regarding what sorts of plants would work well for you.
EDIT: attached a picture (an older one, but it will do) of one of my tanks with the flourite black sand substrate, so you can get a sense of what it looks like. Personally, I think the greens of the plants really "jump out" on the darker colored substrate, as compared to a light color like most PFS's. Also, when it comes to many freshwater inverts (most of the dwarf shrimp especially), they tend to display much bolder colors when they are in a tank with a dark substrate; whereas in tanks with a light-colored substrate, their colors are often more subdued or washed out. Something else to consider!
, how do you make sure you don't get a bunch of snail hitch hikers on the plants? I am thinking I would like to put some nerite snails in there but didn't want to find myself with a population explosion from a bunch of hitch hikers.
