Shorty wrote,
When starting a planted tank with a few fish. How much aeration do I
need?
I am using a canister filter.

The larger the bio-load and the warmer the water, the less dissolved
oxygen. Canister filters are known to move a lot of water - most types
of aquatic plants that thrive in nature, grow in slow flowing or still
water - plus, algaes do better in a turbulent enviroment. If your going
to use a canister filter, I would point the spray bar in such a way to
move the surface of the water the least amount. If you haven't set the
filter up yet, see if you can take it back to the store and trade it
in. Unless it's a large tank with large fish, those high performance
filters are not necessarily the best filter for the tank! The flow rate
(gph) is much to fast - solid waste becomes traped within the filters
media, because of the flow rate, dissolves quickly and is pumped right
back into the tank as DOCs, an endless supply of plant nutrients
(excessive algae growth occurs). The effectiveness of bio-filtering is
greatly improved the longer the polluted water is held in the filter.

Also... do you recommend surface movement to introduce more oxygen in
the water for the bacteria colony to grow?

The bacteria colony will do fine with or without surface movement -
surface movement is more for the fish. Again, a large bio-load, heat,
and even some medications can/will rob the water from dissolved oxygen,
so your question is a good one, and the answer can differ from tank to
tank. Best way to tell if there is enough dissolved oxygen in a
tropical tank, is to have a few cool water fish in their. I keep eather
a few white cloud mountain minnows in the tank, or a hillstream loach
or two. Cool water fish will show respiratory distress long before the
warm water fish! ....................Frank