New fish keeper

[TNG]

I want yoyo loach which are considered a bottom dwelling fish, would I be okay with gravel and stratum in a planted tank for them?

Welcome to the forum.
I have sand at the rear of my tank and gravel at the front. My yoyo loach prefers the gravel section as it searches for food trapped in the substrate. I hardly see it in the sand area.
You mentioned slate in post #1. Just thought you may want to check if it affects your pH. Mine slightly lowers the pH, which is fine by me as I need soft water for my fish.

 

[Characf]

Welcome to the forum.
I have sand at the rear of my tank and gravel at the front. My yoyo loach prefers the gravel section as it searches for food trapped in the substrate. I hardly see it in the sand area.
You mentioned slate in post #1. Just thought you may want to check if it affects your pH. Mine slightly lowers the pH, which is fine by me as I need soft water for my fish.

I live in a hard water area, the Ph that comes straight from the tap is already around 8ph so it'll be beneficial if it drops the ph within my tank. I've got some moss balls etc to try lower I'm trying to aim around a ph of 6-7 which seems okay for a community fish tank

 

[Characf]

Update-

I have added some live plants, I'm not sure this LED light is powerful enough barely illuminates the bottom of the tank but we'll see what happens.

Image here
https://ibb.co/tCRXnth

 

[Byron]

I want yoyo loach which are considered a bottom dwelling fish, would I be okay with gravel and stratum in a planted tank for them?

Unfortunately no. The problem here is the stratum. If the substrate is only sand or fine gravel, that is fine. But these loaches will dig, and there are bacterial problems with any "plant" substrate.

 

[Byron]

I live in a hard water area, the Ph that comes straight from the tap is already around 8ph so it'll be beneficial if it drops the ph within my tank. I've got some moss balls etc to try lower I'm trying to aim around a ph of 6-7 which seems okay for a community fish tank

The parameters GH. KH and pH are closely connected. In order to adjust the pH, you need to consider the GH and KH. These two will tell you 2if the pH is going to be stable. What is the GH, KH and pH of your tap water on its own? When testing tap water for pH,, you need to outgas the CO2 by letting a glass of water sit 24 hours. These three numbers are the key.