I've had great success with the bulbs you and Aakaak speak of.. the little plastic packs from PetCo and PetsMart...
Now, with that said... I must say, I had to wait quite a while to see anything happen. My girlfriend tried them in her well lit betta tank first but they were pretty much buried and they rotted. Then she tried following the directions and only buried them a little... still rotted.. then we found a blog (not as good as MFT.net!!) that suggested you literally just throw 'em in the tank and see what happens.. so that's what I did on my 30 gallon. Weeks later after the two bigger bulbs floated around and the smaller ones sank instantly, they started to sprout.. and once they did.. BOOM. It was like a race between a few of them to see who could grow more in a day. Apono's have such cool colors and are so hearty and grow like weeds and I love them and luckily you get more of them in a pack then others.....
But I've done some research and was tired of rolling the dice and the waiting game (i know this is the wrong hobby for someone who's as impatient as I am!)
So, now when I get them, I take the bulbs and put them in a glass or tupperware container full of tank water and sit them on or near a windowsill that gets a lot of sunlight. You'll see nothing until about the two week period and then BAM.. out of control sprouting.. then you just take 'em, plop em in your substrate growth side up and they'll continue to take off. I just wish they made plant packs that had cryptos, or swords..
Hope that helps.