For me, stability was a key issue. I pot in clay and use a bark/perlite mix also, medium not fine bark though. I noticed that especially with the small to medium orchids that if they wiggled even slightly then they barely had any growth. Some just seemed to be in a sort of stasis for over a year just not doing anything. I don't like to compact the medium because then it stays too wet for too long. After implementing rhizome clips I noticed the vast majority of the plants send out roots almost immediately, so for me, I think stability was the reason. The clips come for clay and plastic but are shaped differently, so you have to get what will fit your pot, get many different lengths also. Sometimes I use more than one clip for the odd shaped plant.
For your floating media problem, I also noticed this too, so when I do soak, I have to bring the water to just below the pot rim line or I start to lose media. This is more of an issue in the winter when I water in the sink with a stopper because I water from the hose or a watering can in the summer.
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