Pool sand and under sand biological filtration

[ganesan]

I have seen many Discus tanks, many of them bio tope having a lovely white colored pool sand.They have or seemed to have long narrow pipes in the back end of the tanks with bubbles coming out.Are these under gravel biological filtration? I had used under gravel biological filtration long back and are these necessary for Discus tanks with pool sand.Pool sand seem to be very fine and will there not be a situation when oxygen cannot circulate between pool sand particles there by harmful to any detritus should they collect and you may miss while vacuum cleaning. My last query is what are the best suction pipes branded ones available to do cleaning of these fine pool sands.

[pcsb23]

It is likely that what you are seeing are just air stones (some are very long and give a curtain effect), or it could be a cannister filter uplift. Under gravel filters are one of the worst types of filter imo for any fish tank. The trick with using sand in a biotope is to use only a thin layer (the fancy show tanks you see in mags are usually built just for the short term). I use standard hose to syphon.

[ganesan]

Thanks pcb23 for the reply, guess the layer of pool sand should very tiny otherwise maintenance will be a mess.But some biotopes on you tube do show these white pool sand with at least a couple of cms thick.I guess they must be giving minimal feeds and carefully hosing every day.