Eric Borneman's 400 gal reef is no more?

[Nautilus1]

I read on another website that Eric B reef tank is all dead. There is talk that someone drained the water and replaced it with fresh water. The police are investigating. If any of this is true my sympathies go to Eric B.

 

[Omni2226]

First I heard about it,,,,take a while to drain that much water and replace it with fresh. Maybe poison or something?

 

[Anonymous]

This was posted by Eric on 4/18/2006. I firgured everyone already knew.

I went to lab this morning and had Acropora palmata
thriving and corals over a foot across. Came home tonight to the tank cloudy and salinity of 15ppt. I don't know if someone sabotaged the tank or what because the autofiller was working. Whatever the case, by the morning, almost everything in my tank will be dead and I cannot do this anymore. Whatever is left I will give to our local club. I hope the fish live.

I no longer feel capable of answering posts. My heart and pride and joy was lost in eight hours and I can't bear it. Thanks everyone for your support.



______________________
Eric Borneman

 

[Anonymous]

What the hell?

Someone broke into his house and rather than dump poison in his tank, they drained out a few hundred gallons of water and replaced it with a few hundred gallons of fresh water?

That doesn't sound right. If someone wanted to mess him up, they would just dump a bottle bleach or something like that into the tank. It would take 3 minutes and they would be out of his house. Why would they take a couple of hours to perform an operation like that?

Something is missing.

I feel very sorry for him though. I hope whoever is responsible gets head cancer.

 

[Anonymous]

It doesn't add up, if you ask me. I agree with Manny, holy cow! Alls it would take would be a small bottle of bleach and everything would be dead quickly. FWIW, I have dropped fish down to lower than that salinity from full strength (34 ppt) in less than 24 hours. They (and the nitrifying bacteria) are remarkably resilient to it. Corals, of course, aren't. If his fish died as well then I think there's something else going on there.

 

[Anonymous]

Well in case anyone didn't know where he was answering post here is the thread he started about the tank crashing. They seem to be having some server problems tonight.


http://www.marinedepot.com/FORUMS/Topic32610-9-1.aspx


I got to page 3 and couldn't get read any more. They are having some problems for sure.

 

[Anonymous]

It doesn't add up, if you ask me. I agree with Manny, holy cow! Alls it would take would be a small bottle of bleach and everything would be dead quickly. FWIW, I have dropped fish down to lower than that salinity from full strength (34 ppt) in less than 24 hours. They (and the nitrifying bacteria) are remarkably resilient to it. Corals, of course, aren't. If his fish died as well then I think there's something else going on there.

The fish might die from all the other dead stuff fouling the water.

I also drop fish gradually from full salinity to hypo in about 24 hours with no bad effects to the fish or the bacteria.

 

[EmilyB]

Aw, another quitter...

 

[Anonymous]

This sucks.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

That the thing that sucks about reefkeeping - you're responsible for the lives of many delicate (and expensive!) creatures, and you're keeping them alive via a very fragile (and costly!) life support system. Things can and do go wrong with these systems and BAM - things die, not to mention other bad things happening, like floods or fires.

Reefkeeping is like heroin or tobacco. You know it's bad for your financial health in the long run (not to mention your mental & emotional health from all the worrying & setbacks), and it's easy to quit for a little while, but in the long term you simply cannot quit.

 

[fyrefysh]

I feel very sorry for him though. I hope whoever is responsible gets head cancer.

My dad died of brain cancer, I don't wish it on anyone, but I do hope that justice is served. I don't blame him for quitting. All that time, effort, and money down the toilet overnight, what a shame.

 

[Duec22]

He mentioned this at the WMC last weekend, and he was still very shaken by the whole thing. If I remember correct I think he had his sump outside which is where someone would have had access to it. It's a horrible thing to happen.

 

[Anonymous]

I feel very sorry for him though. I hope whoever is responsible gets head cancer.

My dad died of brain cancer, I don't wish it on anyone, but I do hope that justice is served. I don't blame him for quitting. All that time, effort, and money down the toilet overnight, what a shame.

That sucks. I meant it as an expression for wishing the absolute worse upon the person. Sorry your dad had that terrible fate...I'm sure he didn't deserve it 1/100th as much as the sack of crap that would destroy Eric's tank.

 

[fyrefysh]

No problem manny, I'm not getting on you. But I would say, whomever did it needs a knuckle sandwich or something similar.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder what the purpose would be behind changing ~400 gallons of saltwater to fresh when there are so many easier ways to do away with someones reef? That is a lot of work when there are quick 1 minute answers to do the same. I can't imagine the corals that he lost. terrible. It was good to see on page 6 that he is not going to abandon his hobby after all.

It really is a shame.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe the culprit wanted it to seem like Eric's own fault? Whereas bleach or some chemical would be a dead giveaway...

It's a shame. Eric may be a bit abrasive at times, but he has earned respect in this hobby/industry...I wouldn't wish a tank crash on anyone.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe the culprit wanted it to seem like Eric's own fault? Whereas bleach or some chemical would be a dead giveaway...

It's a shame. Eric may be a bit abrasive at times, but he has earned respect in this hobby/industry...I wouldn't wish a tank crash on anyone.

Peace,

Chip

Interesting theory.

But if the person had a brain, they would think of something that would be less obvious. Pure ammonia for example. That would poison the tank and then when a bunch of stuff dropped dead, the high ammonia reading could be attributed to the rotting dead things. More of a challenge to trace. :twisted:

 

[Anonymous]

True, but he did have an auto-filler on the tank...maybe a malfunction or something...

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

He said he had no auto filler. Nothing automated at all.

Seems like too much work to me for sabotage, but people are weird.

 

[Anonymous]

He said he had no auto filler. Nothing automated at all.

Seems like too much work to me for sabotage, but people are weird.

I don't know if someone sabotaged the tank or what because the AUTOFILLER was working.
Eric Borneman