Orca

[Mostly Rock]

Tonight I attended my first ORCA meeting. It was phenomenal! It was a frag swap, and I won five coral frags! I have been studying corals for a little while, and I've learned a lot about them, their needs and their habits. After the year I've spent screwing up, I was still very trepidatious. I would have loved to have Rob, CarmieJo or Amphibious there to help me make intelligent decisions... Wait! Amphibious WAS there! Right next to me the whole time! It was like Free Money! Seriously, it felt a lot like glancing down and noticing that a 100 dollar bill was stuck to the sole of your shoe! I am very blessed in a lot of ways, and this was one more such occasion! I am eternally grateful for stumbling into the Talking Reef PodCasts, and I look forward to many more years of this community! If anybody reading this is in the central FL area and not a member of ORCA, please contact me, I would love to help get you involved.
My acclimation process was interrupted by my daughter getting sick all over the place (she drank some bad formula... bleh) but I should be done in a couple hours anyway. My first six corals are:
Xenia (from last week)
Frogspawn (Same dealer)
Green Zoanthid (same dealer)
Orange Capricornis
Purple Ricordea
Purple Mushroom
Meting Dick face to face was the highlight of my Salt Water experience, but my daughter saying she feels better then falling asleep was the most important event I've been through today. So now I'm back to being excited about my new Corals!!!!
-Mike

[SaltyDawg]

Congrats on the new corals. Gotta tell ya...I wasn't expecting to hear meeting Amp,free coral and puke all in the same breath...lol

[Mostly Rock]

The corals weren't free, but they were a steal at the price I won the auctions for. Yeah, it was quite a night. The current bad news is my new Purple Mushroom was torn from his frag disk. He's literally hanging on by a thread. I'm not familiar enough with them to know if this is a catastrophe or not. I have him out of the way in a cave type spot so he's not getting kicked around by the current and the light isn't directed at him. Any suggestions?

[Amphibious]

Hey Mike,

It was as much my pleasure meeting you and the two angels in your life, your wife and daughter. What sweethearts they are. You are blessed beyond measure. High five and fist bump to your daughter!!! Glad she’s feeling better.

By the way, you owe me a fifty from the found hundred.... :rotfl:

As I mentioned to you at the meeting, shrooms will often let go of what they’er on and drift for days, eventually finding a spot to their liking. Occasionally they whither away, too. No need to worry yet.

Give your girls a hug from me and a fist bump to Bliz! They’re both precious.

Dick

[Mostly Rock]

It's completely separated from the frag disk now, and it's difficult to find a spot that doesn't cause it to blow around like a tumbleweed right now. It seems to have settled in the substrate, pushed against a piece of live rock. I'm hoping it likes that spot, it's under an overhang, so it's getting less than nominal light and a significant decrease in flow. Maybe it'll attach to the live rock it's pressed up against and start spreading. Of my first six corals, I'm sure I'll have at least one that has problems, but I'm banking on the fact that this is Blizzard's tank, so maybe it'll be blessed with her luck and my ability to survive.

[CarmieJo]

When I frag mushrooms I put them in a plastic cup with some rubble stone and they usually attach in a week or two.

[Mostly Rock]

I detailed more in my Blog, but he seems content in his little nook now.