You definitely don't wanna vacuum your sand or gravel or whatever you get because you will risk stirring up the soil. Just leave all the debris on the bottom. As far as soil most people use miracle gro organic choice potting mix but any organic potting soil will work. As far as planting plants, you wanna make sure you get the roots of the plants buried. When you plant, some of the soil will probably get stirred up a bit but it's no big deal. Also moving plants will stir up the soil a bit too but it really doesn't matter, you can either wait a little and your filter will get the water clean or you can do a water change.
