A planted tank is going to be more work than an all fish tank but it can also be very rewarding seeing your plants grow and enjoying fish in a natural enviornment. You can use sand but will need to use root tabs for your plants since sand is inert.
What kind of lights are you going to use? Personally I'd look into a 2 bulb T5HO fixture and they you can grow most any plant except some of the very high light ones.
Easy starter plants are Swords, Crypts, Water Sprite, Wisteria, Vals (I like Corkscrew), Dwarf Sag, Narrowleaf temple, Ambulia, Anarachis, and many others for planting in the substrate. Then ones that are easy for attaching onto DW would be Anubias, Java Fern (regular and Wendilov), and Bolbitus. Any of the mosses will work also.
