Of all the various "stuff" in my tanks, the features that unfailingly draws the most comments from visiting reefers are the "BReefCase Patented 'Pod Piles." (The name was a joking appellation coined by a friend, but it seems to have stuck.)
A 'Pod Pile is a sort of in-tank, wall-less Refugium for raising extra-large quantities of 'pods and other desirable benthic invertebrates, in densities higher than those normally possible in tanks with only regular live rock and a DSB.
To build a 'Pod Pile, get a quantity of spent Porites Worms tubes ("Christmas Tree Worm Rock" that no longer has any worms living in it), bust it up with a hammer into irregular pieces not more than an inch or two square, and stack the resulting pieces up high in the front corner of your tank. (Be careful doing this if you have an acrylic tank, as the hard, irregular calcium tubes have sharp little "horns" that can scratch.)
The bigger the pile and the steeper its slope, the better. This is also the place to pile up all those extra grow-out shells that you provide for you hermit crabs. (You DO have five to ten extra, larger shells for EACH hermit in your tank, right? Right?)
The pore spaces created between the rock chunks, and the open spaces inside the tubes and shells (kind of like bee honeycombs), will soon become a seething breeding and feeding ground for just about anything that lives in your sand or rock -- 'pods, bristle worms, spaghetti worms, chitons, mini-brittle stars, various larvae, tiny snails, unidentified you-name-its, they all seem to love it. The nooks and crannies not only provide ideal protected living space that predators can't readily enter, but also catches and holds food particles that are quickly consumed by the local inhabitants.
At the same time, the 'Pod Pile is a continuous source of food for the rest of the tank. Finicky eaters like Synchiropus (Mandarins or Dragonets) that will often take nothing but live 'pods quickly learn to hunt over the top and sides of the 'Pod Pile, picking off the constant supply of stray critters foolish enough to leave the safety of the interior.
Reefers who normally avoid coarse substrates because they catch food that rots and causes ammonia/nitrites should relax that rule here, because in this case the food that lodges inside the pile never lasts long enough to spoil. In fact, I find I have to deliberately target-feed the 'Pod Piles daily, because the many ravenous mouths there require much more food than will ever land by chance.
I also oxygenate the pile by extending the input of a Maxijet PH (already present for tank circulation) down to the bottom of the tank using a plastic pipe capped by a basket strainer. This draws both water and food through the pile. Just be sure to keep the intake far enough away from the pile to make sure the current doesn't suck up or otherwise trouble the inhabitants.
If you pride yourself on a bed of spotless white oolitic Aragonite sand, make an exception for a 'Pod Pile. It's worth it, and the pile itself is very attractive since all sorts of colored Coraline algaes eventually colonize the textured, Calcium-rich worms tubes. Also, for some reason the very pretty Gracilaria parvispora macroalgae (aka Ogo Plant, Tang Heaven Red) likes to grow throughout the piles, which is great because the only other place I can get it to grow is UNDER my live rock where no one can see it.
One of the best things about 'Pod Piles is that the inhabitants there feel invisible because they are covered with rock - except now they are right up against the glass, creating a sort of ant-farm viewing effect. You'll see all sorts of strange creatures and unusual behaviors that would normally go on only at night or hidden deep inside your sand and rock. Today I watched a largish, vicious 'pod that normally spends its time spinning in tight crazy circles along the glass stop long enough to wrestle both a bristle worm and a baby hermit crab for a choice morsel of Prime Reef. The contest was a three-way draw until a miniature brittle star settled matters by stealing the prize and eating it whole. I also watched as a hermit crab went shopping for a new shell, carefully emptying the 'pods and baby bristle worms out of each likely prospect in turn before patiently trying it on, until it found the perfect fit - a bit like watching your girlfriend looking for shoes at the mall, but much less annoyimg and not so expensive.
About the only drawback of the 'Pod Pile is that you have to use more care in cleaning the glass near the top of the pile. The pile's inhabitants seem to keep the glass covered by the pile quite clean, and since it's shaded by the pile the glass doesn't grow algae there.
You do have to re-stack the pile a bit once a month or so, as the activities of the various tank inhabitants hunting through it for food and new shells tend to flatten it out over time. I use a pair of aqua-tongs for this to take the mess out of the job and keep my grimy arms out of the tank.
So, if you have been wanting an outside Refugium but haven't gotten around to building one, if you need to grow more 'pods to feed the finicky eaters in your tank, or if you just want to have - and see - more and different live sand critters, try building a BReefCase Patented 'Pod Pile in your tank.
A 'Pod Pile is a sort of in-tank, wall-less Refugium for raising extra-large quantities of 'pods and other desirable benthic invertebrates, in densities higher than those normally possible in tanks with only regular live rock and a DSB.
To build a 'Pod Pile, get a quantity of spent Porites Worms tubes ("Christmas Tree Worm Rock" that no longer has any worms living in it), bust it up with a hammer into irregular pieces not more than an inch or two square, and stack the resulting pieces up high in the front corner of your tank. (Be careful doing this if you have an acrylic tank, as the hard, irregular calcium tubes have sharp little "horns" that can scratch.)
The bigger the pile and the steeper its slope, the better. This is also the place to pile up all those extra grow-out shells that you provide for you hermit crabs. (You DO have five to ten extra, larger shells for EACH hermit in your tank, right? Right?)
The pore spaces created between the rock chunks, and the open spaces inside the tubes and shells (kind of like bee honeycombs), will soon become a seething breeding and feeding ground for just about anything that lives in your sand or rock -- 'pods, bristle worms, spaghetti worms, chitons, mini-brittle stars, various larvae, tiny snails, unidentified you-name-its, they all seem to love it. The nooks and crannies not only provide ideal protected living space that predators can't readily enter, but also catches and holds food particles that are quickly consumed by the local inhabitants.
At the same time, the 'Pod Pile is a continuous source of food for the rest of the tank. Finicky eaters like Synchiropus (Mandarins or Dragonets) that will often take nothing but live 'pods quickly learn to hunt over the top and sides of the 'Pod Pile, picking off the constant supply of stray critters foolish enough to leave the safety of the interior.
Reefers who normally avoid coarse substrates because they catch food that rots and causes ammonia/nitrites should relax that rule here, because in this case the food that lodges inside the pile never lasts long enough to spoil. In fact, I find I have to deliberately target-feed the 'Pod Piles daily, because the many ravenous mouths there require much more food than will ever land by chance.
I also oxygenate the pile by extending the input of a Maxijet PH (already present for tank circulation) down to the bottom of the tank using a plastic pipe capped by a basket strainer. This draws both water and food through the pile. Just be sure to keep the intake far enough away from the pile to make sure the current doesn't suck up or otherwise trouble the inhabitants.
If you pride yourself on a bed of spotless white oolitic Aragonite sand, make an exception for a 'Pod Pile. It's worth it, and the pile itself is very attractive since all sorts of colored Coraline algaes eventually colonize the textured, Calcium-rich worms tubes. Also, for some reason the very pretty Gracilaria parvispora macroalgae (aka Ogo Plant, Tang Heaven Red) likes to grow throughout the piles, which is great because the only other place I can get it to grow is UNDER my live rock where no one can see it.
One of the best things about 'Pod Piles is that the inhabitants there feel invisible because they are covered with rock - except now they are right up against the glass, creating a sort of ant-farm viewing effect. You'll see all sorts of strange creatures and unusual behaviors that would normally go on only at night or hidden deep inside your sand and rock. Today I watched a largish, vicious 'pod that normally spends its time spinning in tight crazy circles along the glass stop long enough to wrestle both a bristle worm and a baby hermit crab for a choice morsel of Prime Reef. The contest was a three-way draw until a miniature brittle star settled matters by stealing the prize and eating it whole. I also watched as a hermit crab went shopping for a new shell, carefully emptying the 'pods and baby bristle worms out of each likely prospect in turn before patiently trying it on, until it found the perfect fit - a bit like watching your girlfriend looking for shoes at the mall, but much less annoyimg and not so expensive.
About the only drawback of the 'Pod Pile is that you have to use more care in cleaning the glass near the top of the pile. The pile's inhabitants seem to keep the glass covered by the pile quite clean, and since it's shaded by the pile the glass doesn't grow algae there.
You do have to re-stack the pile a bit once a month or so, as the activities of the various tank inhabitants hunting through it for food and new shells tend to flatten it out over time. I use a pair of aqua-tongs for this to take the mess out of the job and keep my grimy arms out of the tank.
So, if you have been wanting an outside Refugium but haven't gotten around to building one, if you need to grow more 'pods to feed the finicky eaters in your tank, or if you just want to have - and see - more and different live sand critters, try building a BReefCase Patented 'Pod Pile in your tank.
