I have a
Mandarin Dragonet and I was building some pod piles of live-rock rubble when I was thinking. It would be nice if these piles were easier to move (for cleaning maintenance, etc). Then I decided to make mobile Pod Condos - You can move them around your tank, easily and still provide a sanctuary for
pod population to reproduce within. It also allows you to make a couple and rotate them between your display tank, and another pod-rich environment such as a refugium to increase the number of little pod tenants.
They are very simple and cheap to make:
Materials- Gutter Guard - Sold at Menards/Lowes/HD in about 20' rolls for a few bucks
- 10 or so zip-ties (smaller are better IMO)
- Some live rock rubble
Step 1 - Make the body
Cut about 1 foot of gutter guard and roll it into a cylinder. You could actually make them any size you like but this size worked well in my tank - adjust as you like. Overlap about 3 squares on the end. Use zip ties and secure the overlapped layers every couple squares using the middle row of full squares for best strength.
Step 2 - Put on the bottom
Next cut a smaller piece of gutter guard that is large enough to cover the end of the tube with a couple squares of over hang. Position the bottom on the body so that you get good matching of the full squares of the body edge with the top. It's hard to see in the pics, but you want to zip tie anchor using full, uncut squares. Again, zip tie every couple squares
Step 3 - Trim the bottom
Trim the bottom to fit the tube body with a scissors - being careful not to cut the anchor squares so that it compromises the bottom's structural integrity. Here it is pre and post trimmed:
Step 4 - Fill'er Up with rubble
Now you're ready to fill it up with LR rubble, etc. This is the habitat for your pods, so I tried to fill mine up nice and dense so they have more space to run around, hide, lay eggs, etc. You may have to do some puzzle work to maximize the fill, but do it to your liking. Don't fill it completely to the top only go about 80% full - leaving about 1 1/2 inch or so unfilled. This will allow you to pinch the two sides together an close the top to keep the rubble from falling out.
Step 5 - Close the top
Now pinch the top together and use a couple zip ties to close it. I found it best to put the body seam perpendicular to the top pinch line so it looks nice and isn't as hard on the side seam.
That's all there is. As I said, now you have mobile Pod breeding grounds. You could also loan them out to others to plop in their sump/fuge for a couple weeks to cross-populate your tank with pod species from their system, etc.
