Worst day of my life.

[gbhil]

This past Monday was my son's Christmas concert at his school. I live in the epitome of small town America, so most of the town was there to enjoy the show and socialize a bit. While we were there enjoying ourselves, a pack of unhuman trash vandals broke into several houses at my end of town, mine being one of them.

A few items were stolen, but anything expensive looking was trashed. TV, stereo, PC, fridge, and of course all 3 of my tanks. The other homes were in similiar shape. These people weren't there to rob, just destroy. To top it all off, my homeowners insurance company is only going to reimburse me the cost of actual livestock lost, as they consider all the equipment as "hobby equipment" and I'm not covered. I mistakenly figured it would all be covered under pets, animals and livestock. I'm a grown middle aged man, yet this whole fiasco brought me to tears more thaqn once so far. I'm posting this so I can vent a little and to remind everyone to double check their insurance. Any of you God fearing folks out there, please keep us in your prayers, as the whole family is pretty tense at the moment. Thank goodness allthe Christmas presents were over at my mom and dads house, so at least the kids dont have to deal with that too.

[Loverotties]

I'm so sorry to here that happen to you!What did they do to the tanks?Break the glass?man I hope they catch them!

[ChrisPrusha]

I am so sorry!! I don't know what to say, except that you and your family are in my prayers.

[dobejazz]

How Horrible! I'm so sorry this has happened to you and the others in your town.

[ChrisPrusha]

One small bright spot in this awful thing...no one appears to have been hurt....your family is safe and sound!

[skeety]

Jerry,

Man...I am TRULY sorry to hear about this. I can't even imagine how you and your family feel right now.

I don't really even have anything to say.

Any condolences would be of little comfort. Anything else I have to say is way to angry, and involves the true mutilation of people that did this.

I hope they catch the ..............'ers, and make them pay.

Robbery isn't something I like...but at least it's a motivation you can wrap your head around. This...this is just plain mean and evil.

My prayers are with you, and the other victims. Keep us posted.

And if there's anything we can do to help, let us know.

I have some odds and ends equipment I can ship out your way. Don't really have anything that useful though. Just some heaters, small pumps, etc. But if you get back up and running, I can send you some frags!

Hang in there ... and trust in Karma. They'll get theres. hopefully SOON. But if not, trust that it will come around to them!

Hope your son's concert was still a beam of light in what TRULY sounds like a crappy day.

Sincerely...

-s0da-

[gwen_o_lyn]

Very sorry this happened to you. I don't understand why people have to be so mean!!

[FishDaddy]

That's just terrible! So sorry you and your family had that happen and that your insurance company is giving you a hard time.

I hope the authorities catch those Grinches and punish them to the full extent of the law.

I also hope this doesn't spoil your Christmas and you can put this behind you. While there are a few really bad people out there, just think of all the good folks who were at your son's Christmas Concert.

Dick

[Doug1]

Wow thats a really bad thing Hope they get caught, and that things get better for you guys

[tdwyatt]

What kind of tanks do you have, and what are your recovery plans for your systems?


Do you have a shopping list?

[three90s&125sump]

I wish I could express my animosity twards those... I wish the mods would not ban me for saying how I feel. It pains me to think of what I would do to them if I caught them. I have always had a hard time with tolerance and forgivness. That is something that I would be hell bent on getting retribution for.

I think it is a great idea to help you rebuild your system. I don't have anything that you would need, everything I have would be usless to you. I will help in any way I can. Just ask.

Really, if you find them I'll help you dispose of the bodies.

[gbhil]

Just hearing all the well wishes from you guys is a great help. Honest. Knowing that there are people out there that give a **** is a good way to lift your spirits.

If they catch them, I just might need that help with the bodies. Cops have no real lead on who or why, and think it was probably kids acting out.

I complained about the insurance co, but I have to be fair. The next morning they had cash for me to get temporary covering for the windows and door, and they have already cut the check to replace the damage to the house itself. They haven't tried to quibble over any estimates so far. I was just preturbed about them not covering what I *thought* they should cover. Now everyone check your policy before you find out the hard way!

Someone asked about what tanks and what they did to them -
I had a 125 "mixed reef" tank, they broke the glass, smashed the ca reactor and skimmer, cut all the power cords, smashed the light pendants, threw the ballasts into the mostly empty tank, threw the rock and sand all over the living room, poured 3/4 bucket of salt into the tank remains, and mixed all the food from the fridge into the tank remains. They even smashed the thermometers. Nothing was salvagable from it.

I had a 75 with some LPS and a nice yellow wartskin angler, it was pretty much the same. Anything smashable was smashed. Found the anglerfish in the toilet. Rock, corals and sand strung around the living room. It also appeared that they had relieved themselves in the broken sump.

The 20 Long I had been working on for the buildoff here was smashed, and the remains of the tank were pushed off the stand onto the floor.

Between the 20 and the 75 I saved 2 brain corals, a medium sized colony of purple star polyps, 1 medium sized Amplexidiscus mushroom, 3 snails and 6 hermits. Got them in a temporary rubbermaids lit with a shop light for the time being.

I am already thinking about rebuilding in the 40-75 gallon range for a start, so yall keep an eye out for deals on a skimmer or lights for me. When I get it up and running I'll hit you up for those frags skeety! One thing I need some advice on right now, and I'm sure yall can help with this one - I need a fair market value of some of my lost corals. I'll post a list seperatly and maybe some of you more knowledgable reefers can guide me on how much to value each animal at.

Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers all.

[gbhil]

If anyone can help I need a FAIR market value for the following:

Soft Corals
blue mushroom (Rhodactis sp.) 7-10 polyps on fiji branch, 1-3 in. in size
Orange ric 2inches
Green ric 2 inches
Eagle Eye zoas 30-50 polyp colony
Eagle Eye zoas 10-20 polyp colony
Pink zoas 10-20 polyp colony

CLams
Maxima clam (ultra grade) 2.5 inch
Maxima clam 4 inch
Blue edge Squamosa clam 5inch

LPS
Acanthastrea subechinata red with bright green mouths, 35-50 polyp huge colony 7.5 inches
Acanthastrea subechinata green with green mouth, 12 polyp colony
Dark red candy cane with green mouth, 19 polyps
neon green favia 6.5-7 inches across colony
Green lobo 4 inch colony
Blue lobo 4 inch colony
Green short tentacle fungia 3.5 inch
Orange short tentacle fungia 3-4 inch
Orange short tentacle fungis 2 inch


SPS
Neon green A. humilis 7 inch colony
Blue table arco (Acropora hyacinthus?) 5 inch colony
Yellow tipped A prostrata 3 inch colony
Orange encrusting monti 5-6 inch colony
purple monti cap 5 inch colony
"super purple" monti digitata 3 inch colony

Frags (all 1-2 inch)
Purple rimmed green monti cap
Green elkhorn monti
Bali green slimer
Rose milli
Pink Pocillopora
Bright yellow porites

Other
4-4.5 inch Wartskin anglerfish
2.5 inch blue star leopard wrasse
1.5-2 inch staghorn hermit crab


Thanks in advance

[skeety]

to angry to even reply

[ChrisPrusha]

Sounds like teenagers. And teenagers have a hard time keeping their mouths shut.

I could, of course, be wrong...

In any event, after reading your detailed post on what happened, I'm **** angry, too.