I am getting livebearers for my 35 gallon freshwater tank, what color gravel would be best to put in the tank. It is required to have the tank planted so would live or fake plants be better? I need my water hardness to be medium and as of this moment it is very soft, what plants or things could I use to make the water harder then it is? I also would like to bring the pH of the water down to neutral from alkaline, how would I do that? I have been told that it doesent matter what the water is for livebearers but I would like it a certain way because I just do so I would appreciate it if I didnt need to read that it doesent matter. I am going for a more natural environment. I would put sand on the bottom instead of gravel but I'm not so sure about that.
I can help you with some parts of your question, but not all. I know that people who have african cichlids need to have harder than normal water so they sometimes use 10-15% crushed coral substrate, I might be slightly off on the percentage, but somewhere in that range. You probably could use 2.5-5% crushed coral in your substrate and be safe. I reccomend you test your water's Ph after a day of adding it, and remove or add more if needed. Or Maybe you could add 10% to your substrate and then have a couple pieces of driftwood to balance out the PH. This is because the driftwood is known to lower the ph, so hypothetically, they will create neutral PH.
For live or fake plants, I always go for live, for a couple reasons,
1) Live plants actually look real
2) Live plants create a natural ecosystem because they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen
3) Are often cheaper than fake plants
4) Won't tear your fishes fins if they stroke by them (Plastic plants only)
There is something you need to know about live plants though, they need 10-12 hours of light a day. That means that you must have your aquarium lights on for that time. Since your new to live plants (assumingly?) I suggest you get low-light plants, which would include Java moss, Java fern and Anubias. The Java Moss will even give a place for your fry to hide from the parents. Once the fry grow you could ask your local fish stores if they would buy them from you. Don't even try asking the big stores like petsmart and petco, they will say no. Go to your "family-owned" pet store, they are more likely to make a deal.
As for sand, it's great if you have the right kind. When people think of sand for their aquarium they think of either beach sand or play sand. Go for neither of these. Beach/lake sand is likely to be either extremely parasitic or exposed to saltwater, not something you would put in a freshwater tank and play sand is very, very dirty, again, not something you would put in a freshwater tank, but it can and has been done. What I reccomend is using pool filter sand. Pool filter sand is heavy (so it won't fly up when you touch it), it's really cheap (8-10 bucks at your local pool store for 50 pounds! Which would be enough to cover your tank's bottom) and it doesn't compact as tightly as regular sand so it is good for people new to growing plants. Also, in aquariums it looks great! I use it in all my aquariums.
Oh yeah, the driftwood will balance your alkanlity by making the water closer to the acidic side, balancing it out.
I hope this helped
P.s. Sorry for the length!
