You could grab a few medium-larger size rocks that are aesthetically pleasing to you and you can rotate them into and out of your tank in various places that would be ideal for viewing, leave them in for 2-3 days and then rotate them back to your propagation tank and rotate a different piece or two in etc.
When you put the pod seeded rocks into your tank the pods will start spreading fairly quickly. If you do it at night they can usually take refuge in various other rocks and be protected. So when your mandarin is feeding he will still be searching around on all of the rocks so no worries there!
There is a wealth of knowledge on this species around these forums, I always give props to Paul B and a great feeding method he has come up with. Take a look:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2253223
Good luck, they are a beautifully rewarding fish to keep!