Undergravel lattice for heavily planted tank?

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Undergravel lattice for heavily planted tank?
From: Byron Seward <Byron_Seward at ccm_jf.intel.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 96 08:26:00 PDT

     I have a 55-g moderately-planted discus tank with a few easy-to-grow 
     plants like Vals, Anubia nana, Crinum (onion), apon crispus, Java 
     Fern, and a few others.  The filtration is RFUG w/ 2 Otto PH400's w/ 
     prefilters.  I've had fair success with the 'lushness' of the plants 
     in this tank, but I would like to try another planted tank without the 
     monstrous RFUGF that's in this tank.
     
     I had an idea to construct a 'lattice' that consisted of 1" diameter 
     PVC pipes that were joined together like a ladder and filled w/ holes. 
     I would then attach a modest power head (or 2, maybe) to push water 
     through the substrate, and then use a fluidized bed for filtration.  I 
     just want to prevent water stagnation under the gravel, but use other 
     means of filtration.
     
     Here's an Ascii representation...
     
     
      ____________________________
     |  ________   _____   _____  |
     | |        | |     | |     | |
     |o|        |o|     |o|     |o|
     | |        | |     | |     | |
     |o|        |o|     |o|     |o|
     | |________| |_____| |_____| |
     |____________________________|
     
     
     Am I just reinventing the wheel (UGF) here, or should I try it??
     
     Thanks in advance,
                        
     Byron
     byron_seward at ccm_jf.intel.com                                      
     
     If you're gonna throw a boomerang, make it an MTA.