Unboxing and acclimation of my new WWC Holy Grail Torch Coral

[PedroYoung]

Wow, so I've been obsessing over a Holy Grail Torch for months now. Scanning the sale threads and vendor forums, checking ebay etc. Couldn't find what I was looking for. Was really close to "settling" for an Aussie Gold. I'd contacted a few sellers to see if they'd watch out for one for me. I was checking my Instagram feed Tuesday and there it was taunting me, a picture of a Holy Grail. Wait, that's @WWC !!! My fav and trusted vendor!! Hey, it says they have a couple frags available, send a PM. I started to send the PM and said to myself "why not just pick up the phone". Turns out they had one left. "Put my name on it, I'll take it!" They shipped Wed for Thur delivery. In the back of my mind I'm thinking "well, don't expect too much, it's the last one, just be glad the quest is over". I always have them ship to my local FedEx Office location. It gets there by 8:00AM
Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr

I'm home by 8:30 with the goodies. Oh happy day.
Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr

Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr

Yay, free pack of "reef-roids" taped to the lid along with a heat pack.

Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr

Super well packed, entire box full of bag filled with water and styro-floatie.

Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr

This is where I start getting really amazed/excited. You can see this "single head" is huge, and about to split. WOW!!!

Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr
Untitled by Peter Young, on Flickr

Turn off the Vortec's, turn down the A.I.'s (to 5% on the blues) and start floating.
holygrail float fts by Peter Young, on Flickr

After 45 min's I open the bag. It's triple bagged, super pain in the rear to open them all (but I know it's the best protection). I add about 1/3 cup of water every 5-10 min's for the next hr.

holygrail floatside by Peter Young, on Flickr

Ready for the dip. I do 1G of tank water with 25 drops of Coral R/X Pro for 7 min, You can see the floatie here. This really protected the torch head well. It never impacted the side of the bag or the dip container.
holygrail dip by Peter Young, on Flickr

Then 10 min in a tank water rinse
holygrail rinse by Peter Young, on Flickr

Then into the tank. This is at 0 min's, right into the tank
holygrail 0min by Peter Young, on Flickr

Over the course of the next couple hrs, I slowly ramped up the vortecs to 1/2 normal speed (which is full blast reef-crest random mode), and brought the lights up to 20% on the blues and 2% on the whites.
holygrail T2hrs by Peter Young, on Flickr

I'll continue to bring up the lights and powerheads for the rest of the day until bedtime (for me and the corals). Just wanted to share for anyone interested.

I've not said anything about price on purpose. Anyone whose looked at these knows they're not cheap. I will say that anyone who has bought corals from World Wide Corals knows they give full value for the price paid. I'm thrilled that I've been able to buy a coral I've been searching for a long time from a place I have full confidence in. I'll keep updating with pics as this beauty continues to settle in. I wish my photography skills could really do it justice. The bright gold/yellow just doesn't show up on my pics, but I'll keep trying. Big shout out to @WWC for hooking me up.

 

[Vincent100]

Very very nice , nice score

 

[PedroYoung]

Continuing to open up, right before lights out. My photography doesn't do it justice.
holygrail T6hrs by Peter Young, on Flickr

 

[trevormass7]

Gorgeous

 

[Braves Fan]

I have never seen the fuss over these corals,,, but that's just my taste in corals I have a friend that likes them also,,, That being said,,, Do everything you can to find the coral you want and its just not out there,,, dang the luck,,, almost,,, settle for a lesser coral,,, not sure lesser is the right word ,, I bet the other coral is really nice also then you find it,,, not only do you find it,,, WWC has it ,,, personally ,, I think you ought to go buy a lotto ticket it pretty much doesn't get any better than that lol ,, awesome job acclimating the coral to your tank,,, that's how it should be done ,,, Congrats to you,,,

 

[ChrisOFL]

Nice purchase! I saw a couple of these for sale in the showroom when I was there last week and they definitely are stunning. WWC has tons of flow in their tanks so don't worry about overpowering it with the flow.

 

[PedroYoung]

I have never seen the fuss over these corals,,, but that's just my taste in corals I have a friend that likes them also,,, That being said,,, Do everything you can to find the coral you want and its just not out there,,, dang the luck,,, almost,,, settle for a lesser coral,,, not sure lesser is the right word ,, I bet the other coral is really nice also then you find it,,, not only do you find it,,, WWC has it ,,, personally ,, I think you ought to go buy a lotto ticket it pretty much doesn't get any better than that lol ,, awesome job acclimating the coral to your tank,,, that's how it should be done ,,, Congrats to you,,,

Ha, I feel the same way about the crazy shrooms, don't see the attraction (especially at the prices). To each his/her own. Of course I'm a cubs fan, not a Braves fan
Here is a pic I lifted from an ebay auction for a holy grail torch (they had lifted from WWC, so I'm using doubly without permission). You can see what a good photographer can do with this coral.

holy grail by Peter Young, on Flickr

If you could see the nub being offered for a ridiculous price you'd get an ever greater appreciation for how stoked I was/am.

 

[DSC reef]

That's a nice torch, makes other "holy grails" sold online look like a joke. Congrats on the purchase. We're fortunate to be able to visit the store, your right that pics don't do it justice.

 

[PedroYoung]

That's a nice torch, makes other "holy grails" sold online look like a joke. Congrats on the purchase. We're fortunate to be able to visit the store, your right that pics don't do it justice.

My wife is flying me down to Orlando to visit @WWC as a Christmas present. Now that's true love.

 

[ChrisOFL]

My wife is flying me down to Orlando to visit @WWC as a Christmas present. Now that's true love.

Make sure you check out Top Shelf Aquatics and Living Reef, they are also worth stopping by on your trip. Top Shelf has their own farm so if you can't find something on the showroom they keep a lot of nice pieces they will usually frag upon request. Enjoy your trip to WWC

 

[Friday24]

Make sure you check out Top Shelf Aquatics and Living Reef, they are also worth stopping by on your trip. Top Shelf has their own farm so if you can't find something on the showroom they keep a lot of nice pieces they will usually frag upon request. Enjoy your trip to WWC

TSA has been awesome to me for years, their farm is amazing, fish are healthy and prices are great...they had 4 Holy Grail Torches when I was there a couple weeks ago.

 

[ChrisOFL]

TSA has been awesome to me for years, their farm is amazing, fish are healthy and prices are great...they had 4 Holy Grail Torches when I was there a couple weeks ago.

Agreed, they are the only store I buy fish from because they keep the fish displays at 1.024 so no parasites are suppressed and that also means no acclimation for me. If I'm looking for a special piece of SPS they are usually the place I stop by first.

 

[dricc]

Any updates?

 

[PedroYoung]

Doing well, the head has split and is becoming more defined as separate. I've been moving it around some, I think the flow where I've had it has been too high. The tentacles don't always extend as far as they should. I tried to get a pic this morning, but it's hidden by another torch from the front.

 

[Cameron Wise]

Cool

 

[Jason mack]

Ha, I feel the same way about the crazy shrooms, don't see the attraction (especially at the prices). To each his/her own. Of course I'm a cubs fan, not a Braves fan
Here is a pic I lifted from an ebay auction for a holy grail torch (they had lifted from WWC, so I'm using doubly without permission). You can see what a good photographer can do with this coral.

holy grail by Peter Young, on Flickr

If you could see the nub being offered for a ridiculous price you'd get an ever greater appreciation for how stoked I was/am.

WoW !! Amazing !!!

 

[PedroYoung]

Any updates?

Got a top down this morning, not a great shot, but you can see the splitting of the head.

holygrailtop by Peter Young, on Flickr

 

[dricc]

Beautiful!!! How does it compare to an aussie gold torch? Thanks and how was the trip to wwc?

 

[PedroYoung]

Beautiful!!! How does it compare to an aussie gold torch? Thanks and how was the trip to wwc?

In that pic just above you can see an Aussie gold tentacle in the upper right corner. So far it's shorter tentacles, like an Aussie, but the color is very different. It's more bright green and bright yellow with blue tip, while my Aussie is orange/purple with purply/blue tips. I haven't gone to WWC yet, going at the end of Jan. Can't wait.

 

[dricc]

Looking forward to your wwc field trip report!!!