Roommate's friend's kid scratched the hell out of my tank. Must vent before I scream.

[davej]

Agree with going the insurance route. Court would be expensive and hard to prove who actually did it.

[acanthurus]

following this thread, interested on the outcome. sorry about the damages, made me mad to read it.

[asylumdown]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I took a full day to cool off and watched several YouTube videos on buffing out scratches in glass before I brought it up. Most of them can probably be removed or drastically improved with the Cerium stuff Grizz mentioned.

In the grand scheme of things, I value these relationships a whole lot more than I value the tank, and everyone was suuuuuuuper apologetic and felt awful. They thought they were being careful enough and had no idea what was happening. My roommate insisted on paying for whatever materials were necessary to get the scratches out.

Replacing the tank is off the table - if I'm going to go so far as to pull it out of the wall I'm definitely not putting one back in - the space is perfectly sized for a deep closet and that's what it would become. This thing has given me enough heart ache in the last year for me to probably not miss it much.

This is one more reason to do the re-do I've been wanting for the last 6 months or so.

In order to make myself feel better and try and get excited about it again, I picked up three new fish today. First new additions in at least a year. Got a small Copper Band and two juvenile/female christmas wrasses (the Halichoeres kind, not the Thalasoma kind). Would have liked to buy three but it's all he had.

The copper band is tiny, but plump, and was plucking mysis right out of my fingers 2 hours after going in to quarantine, and the two wrasses are passed out in a bowl of sand I put in the QT tank after what must have been days of not sleeping in the bare-bottom tank at the store. They make me care about the scratches a little less.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

In order to make myself feel better and try and get excited about it again, I picked up three new fish today. First new additions in at least a year

I sometimes feel better about my tank woes when I get new fishies

Hope you keep it up

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by davej

Agree with going the insurance route. Court would be expensive and hard to prove who actually did it.

provided you have insurance and that your insurance covers something like this.

You should avoid court if possible, for sure...always.

it's basically there as a last resort.

[Delphinus]

Just read this. Ouch.

Kudos to you for your attitude, I think I would be the same way - I generally value relationships over things as well, but still would be majorly bummed about it.

I can really relate to where you are at the moment. I too look at my 280g inwall tank, and get irritated by the internal overflows (for one) - such an irritating story too about why this tank has internal overflows rather than an external (short version is the tank builder didn't want to do it because he's lazy, and apparently I'm not very good at arguments or persuasion - just ask my kids and actually I'm just sort of starting to get angry now so maybe Immachangethesubjectnowmmmmk). Anyhow. It might be better to consider replacing the glass box at some point, if staying in the hobby is something you decide to do). Anyhow, I can relate, I have some major decisions to make myself and I'm sort of torn between the options. 2015 could be an interesting year.

Good luck whatever you decide.

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Just read this. Ouch.

Kudos to you for your attitude, I think I would be the same way - I generally value relationships over things as well, but still would be majorly bummed about it.

I can really relate to where you are at the moment. I too look at my 280g inwall tank, and get irritated by the internal overflows (for one) - such an irritating story too about why this tank has internal overflows rather than an external (short version is the tank builder didn't want to do it because he's lazy, and apparently I'm not very good at arguments or persuasion - just ask my kids and actually I'm just sort of starting to get angry now so maybe Immachangethesubjectnowmmmmk). Anyhow. It might be better to consider replacing the glass box at some point, if staying in the hobby is something you decide to do). Anyhow, I can relate, I have some major decisions to make myself and I'm sort of torn between the options. 2015 could be an interesting year.

Good luck whatever you decide.

I guess just a case of putting your relationship with your tank builder before your satisfaction with their work on your tank...?

[Delphinus]

Good point Yeah, it's one of those "I wish I had stood my ground" moments now, that's for sure.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Just read this. Ouch.

Kudos to you for your attitude, I think I would be the same way - I generally value relationships over things as well, but still would be majorly bummed about it.

To put it in context, the mother of the child in question at one point very seriously offered to be a surrogate for my partner and I. My roommate, who introduced us, and her fiancé are more like family members that by some strange accident happened to be born to different family. This is why I directed the rage here, instead of at them lol.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I can really relate to where you are at the moment. I too look at my 280g inwall tank, and get irritated by the internal overflows (for one) - such an irritating story too about why this tank has internal overflows rather than an external (short version is the tank builder didn't want to do it because he's lazy, and apparently I'm not very good at arguments or persuasion - just ask my kids and actually I'm just sort of starting to get angry now so maybe Immachangethesubjectnowmmmmk). Anyhow. It might be better to consider replacing the glass box at some point, if staying in the hobby is something you decide to do). Anyhow, I can relate, I have some major decisions to make myself and I'm sort of torn between the options. 2015 could be an interesting year.

Good luck whatever you decide.

If I keep this tank, the internal overflows are going. I can't stand them. More than anything else about the tank I wish I had never done them. I can say with certainty that if the box comes out of the wall, it's not going back in (both my partner and I have at times lost patience with how much of my time and money this thing consumes), but if I'm not involving a finishing carpenter, draining it and re-doing the insides are something I'd consider.

I a) want to get rid of 95% of the monitpora capricornis in the tank, b) want to buff out these scratches, c) get rid of the internal overflows and replace them with a coast to coast, and d) *may* want to nuke all my rocks to get rid of valonia, caulerpa, and aiptasia once and for all, but my rocks are soooooooo lush with sponges, wild mussels (like legit tiny muscles/clam/oyster things that seem to be reproducing in my tank), coraline and all sorts of other amazing things it might not be worth it.

Lots to do that will be lots of fun, but yah... if it gets to the point of removing the box from the wall altogether, I'll probably be out of the hobby for a few years.