Definitely on an expert on this.........but I had a planted tank for a short time.
For filtration, I like to the Eheim Classic canister. Dirty water comes in at the bottom, gets filtered through different layers of biomedia, then (clean) water leaves at the top. There are no bypass. However, this design makes it a bit messy during cleanup. Newer filters compartmentalize the media to make maintenance easier. The downside is there are gaps where the water doesn't come in contact with the media at all.
For substrate, I used regular pool sand with plant fertilizer tabs embedded in it. You can make those fertilizer tabs yourself for cheap, or get them from ebay and craigslist.There are other fancy substrates enriched with nutrients that you can buy, but I'm too cheap for that. I also chose low-light plants like moss, anubias and fern for low maintenance. I also added fast-growing floaters like Amazon frogbits and small water lettuce for nutrient absorption and oxygenation.
For livestock, I'd look for bottom, middle and top feeder types of fish. Algae eater like the true siamese (not chinese) algae eaters, pleco, snails and shrimps.