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FIUGF! Fertilized Inactive UGF plate??? a bit long :-(

This is one of the many things I have been wondering
while re-setting up my tank. (the following may just
illustrate my ignorance on the subject...but
heck...ITS  NEVER STOPPED ME BEFORE ;-))

while considering a UGF plate/filter setup--and
opinions vary regarding the benefits/drawbacks of this
setup [and lets not get into them]...I have seens that
most people who have inactive plates (just sitting
there under the substrate) observe very good plant
growth above them.  I am assuming that most of this
growth can be contributed to a nice place--a resevior
if you will--of mulm that gathers there (and I am sure
there are other factors in play such as the absense of
the water flow, etc...)  so I was thinking that if one
(me!) were to setup an inactive UGF plate underneath
the substrate purposefully--not setup a normal UGF and
then realize its not beneficial [yes I know opinions
vary on this] and shut it down--and also FERTILIZE it
purposefully--it by means of some pvc pipes which
would remain there (refer to diagram bellow...)  would
it not create a nice reservor of nutrients to nourish
the plants and be quite bebficial???  now I know I am
probably not the first person to think of this...but I
have never seen a setup like this described
anywhere...this setup would have the following
benefits:

* a reservior of mulm and other nutrints including
Iron which would be easily oxidized down there

*the plate is prety much sealed off from the water
column thus severly limiting the possibility of a
"leak" (depending on your substrate...) more so than
simply putting the tablets in the substrate


*in the long run...the pvc pipes could also be "run in
reverse" to remove excess mulm from underneath the
plate which would lead to longer life for the aquarium
before it has to be broken down...


any other benefits that people can think of???

benefit/drawback:

the anarobic conditions which would be present under
the platecan be both beneficial and detrimental...but
I can't say that I oppose anarobic conditions entirely
becuase in nature the substrate is quite anarobic as
well [and lets not get into a phylosophical discussion
of whether we should/shoudn't be immitating nature in
our aquariums ;-)]  Also--and I may be wrong
here--don't anarobic conditions lead to a reductive
environment which would certainly be good interms of
Iron absorption (preventing oxidation until the Iron
can be absorbed by the plants).   Also would this
anarobic area lead to the rotting of the roots???  I
think this anarobic situation is a gray area in terms
of benefit VS drawback...could people elaborate/shed
some light on this ???

drawbacks:

* I suppose the pvc pipes could be aesthetically
unpleasant...but that is a minor issue [could be
hidden by plants or other creative ways...

* also I think that over fertilization--AS
ALWAYS!!!--could be very detrimental interms of both
"burning" the roots and increasing the chance of leaks
into the water column...

...other than the above I really can't think of many
other drawbacks--but I am sure APD-ers will be doing
plenty of that  ;-) for me!--I really think I might
have hit something big here--for a relative
beginner--but then again...maybe not...





the FIUGF (Fertilized Inactive UGF) in all its glory
:-)))  [side view..NOT to scale..]



 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  ------>>> the substrate...
 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
|------------------  ---->>>the UGF plate starts here
|
|  ________________
| |
| |  O   O   O   O   ------>>Holes in a PVC pipe to 
| |________________          deliver the fertilizer
|                            and other things (iron...
|
|__________________  bottom of tank...





distant view of the setup (also NOT to scale...)

                             | P |
                             | V |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\| C |
|\\\\\\\\substrate\\\\\\\\\\\|   |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\| P |
|--------UGF Plate-----------| I |
|                            | P |
|  |-------------------------| E |
|  |  O   O   O   O   O   O   O  |
|  |-----------------------------|
|
|________bottom of tank___________


hope I don't get hate mail for this LOL ;-)
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