Bulkhead questions

[loyalrogue]

Couple of questions on bulkheads...

Traditional bulkhead vs. Uniseal bulkhead? Thoughts, opinions, experience?

Best/most common sizes/flowrates for overflow drains? 3/4", 1", 1 1/2"?

And most importantly...
Inexpensive local source for either/both?
Ditto for the strainers.

(Yes, Manny, I'm swimming with the nickel and dime crowd so everyone go clean out your junk drawers.)

 

[macawmagic]

haha...i just posted my bulkhead question and was like wait a minute...i didn't title it that! LOL

 

[loyalrogue]

:lol:


I suspect the same person will be answering both shortly.

 

[coralfragger101]

Re: Bulkhead questions

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11942450#post11942450 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by loyalrogue
Couple of questions on bulkheads...

Traditional bulkhead vs. Uniseal bulkhead? Thoughts, opinions, experience?


(Yes, Manny, I'm swimming with the nickel and dime crowd so everyone go clean out your junk drawers.)

IMO - it depends on what you are going to use it for. Anything that will cause catostrophic failure if it blows I would use nothing less than Heavy Duty Bulkheads. Overflows - standard bulkheads. The only thing I would use uniseals on would be like tops of sumps that you are taking a pipe through and want a clean look and no splash.

I am using uniseals on my salt mixing station as well and I'm dreading the day I come home to find 55 gals of water on my floor.

I think I have 3 or 4 HD 3/4" bulkheads laying around as well as some uniseals.

 

[loyalrogue]

Re: Re: Bulkhead questions

Re: Re: Bulkhead questions

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11942774#post11942774 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralfragger101
I am using uniseals on my salt mixing station as well and I'm dreading the day I come home to find 55 gals of water on my floor.

Yeah, that would truly suck, and in my case would most likely result in a loss of tanks or wife.
That's why the SW storage tank is going on the outside of the house.
The wife saw me walking around with the tape measure today after getting off the phone with tankdepot and told me not to even think about putting that thing anywhere in the house. lol

What I'm planning to use the bulkheads for is two separate tank setups.
One is a connected system of six 20g tanks plus sump stacked 3 high in a gravity-fed loop. Each with an intake and an overflow bulkhead.

The other system is basically the same principle, but only two 100g tanks plus sump in a basic over/under configuration.

So in other words... plenty of opportunities for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Of course, the saving grace is that this is all taking place in the newly converted garage which is CBS on both sides and still has a 5" drop from the rest of the foundation so I'm really only risking the new sheetrock walls and doors I've put in...
Famous last words...

 

[ReefWreak]

I remember people were suggesting uniseals for curved surfaces, but only because you couldn't get a sandard bulkhead on there. I guess choice #1 should always be standard or heavy duty straight bulkheads.

 

[loyalrogue]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11943290#post11943290 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefWreak
I remember people were suggesting uniseals for curved surfaces

Yeah, I read that too.
I also noticed that tankdepot has the uniseals for a ridiculous price, and they're being used on the bottom outlet of 500+ gallon agriculture water tanks so they must be halfway decent to handle that kind of p.s.i.

 

[loyalrogue]

OK, the more and more I read about them the more I'm starting to lean toward the Uniseals.
I haven't read of any disasters and they seem to be widely used for a lot larger tanks and pipes than I'll be using, and all mine will be near the waterline, not in or near the bottom of the tanks.
(It also helps in no small way that they are a third the price of even ecomony bulkheads.)

So now I'm debating the best size for the applications I mentioned above.
Does anyone know where to find the flowrates for drainholes (with or without 90° bends) for sizes from 3/4" to 2"?

Also still looking for a cheap ($2-$3) local (Broward) source... I don't remember seeing them at HD or Lowes, maybe a local plumbing supply?




**** EDIT ****

Just came across a nice thread on a 33 tank hatchery built using 1" uniseal drains and the guy seems to love them, so I think that was the final push I needed to make my decision.

 

[coralfragger101]

If all your holes are going to be near the surface I would consider the uniseals as well based on cost alone.

See if this helps for figuring your flow rates:

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/drain.php