I have both a small HFGH and a larger Rion. The Rion is by far the easier to put together and is much stronger. Get the biggest GH you can afford. It'll soon be full to the rafters. :)

Some experiences: http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/shop/ButCap.shtml I suggest, from my research: letting dry for a couple months, scarify (nick or abrade the hard coat to allow moisture in more quickly) soak in warm solution of potassium nitrate (stump remover), about 1 spoonful/quart for a few days, changing the solution. This might speed up germination. Then plant in soil kept moist and warm. They apparently are reliable but slow sprouters, weeks if not months. I've got 400 to sprout and will be harvesting a few 100 more in the next few weeks. The green fruit on the butias I'm watching is turning orange. When they start to fall, I move in! :)

Biggest advantage of watering from below is being able to keep the tops from getting as soggy, where mold/fungus/gnats are more likely to be a problem. But some people prefer to water from the top. It can certainly be done, although if you do, it needs to be done with something that's more of a drip spout rather than a wider pour spout, or else you may wash your seeds out. Most of your seeds will just go 1/4" deep in rather loose, fluffy seed-start soil that's disturbed pretty easily with much water force. You just need to play with it some. But I think you'll find when using the standard thin 6-cell packs, it gets pretty easy to tell when they dry out. Even if you choose to water an entire 10x20" tray (72 cells) at once rather than pulling each of the 12 6-packs out and dipping them individually like I do, you'll figure out the approximate watering balance before long. Just give the tray maybe 1/2" of water. All or most should get absorbed within 5 minutes or so. It may take another 10 minutes for it to creep up to the tops of the cells, and you'll see those turn darker in most spots, but with maybe some light (dry) edges still. That's good. If it all turns really dark, and almost shiny, you've probably overwatered and made it soggy. You don't want the trays actually sitting in water for more than a few minutes, otherwise they will sop up too much water. Better to add less and see if it all absorbs than add too much at once and find you've saturated the cells and made them soggy. You can always add more if it looks like it needs more. I water roughly every 2nd or 3rd day. If you have a fan gently blowing on it, then a bit more frequently. Don't sweat the details, because it varies and there's a lot of different ways that work. Just need to start some and play with it, even if you end up discarding it as a test. One of those little $1 12-cell trays would be perfect for testing on. It's really not as difficult as I'm probably making it sound.

i dont see anything other than the dirt on my screen ... have these been planted in the ground yet ... it better happen pretty soon based on what the size seems... if they have been indoors.. they will need to be hardened off to direct sun ... i am not aware of anyone growing them as houseplants.. and being full sun plants.. you will be hard pressed indoors ... outside.. they grow so fast ... that i have never had a significant bug issues .... ken