Bulkheads leaking again on my 180g!!!

raynist

raynist

New member
I saw one of my bulkheads leaking again tonight. This is the second time in a little over a year. It happened about 6 months ago too.

I have 4 one inch bulkheads that I had the place I bought my tank from drill, they did a horrible hack job. There are chips that extend past the rubber ring on the inside. I loaded all of the bulkheads up with aquarium sealant the last time it happened and I not sure what to do now.

Do they make bulkheads that have a bigger 'lip' on the inside so it will completely cover the chips? Should I just get rid of the rubber gasket since it doesn't cover the chips anyways and just use silicone?

Should I use the rubber gaskets and then silicone heavily again on the inside and the outside?

I just don't want this to happen again. It was a very very slow leak, it evaporated before even getting to the bottom trim of the tank.

Any suggestions welcome!!!!

Thanks
Ray Nist
 
Ray, there is no easy answer for this one. You do have a couple of options.

1) Turn the bulkheads around so that the flange and gasket are on the outside where the glass is not chipped. I am not sure what your setup is like, so that may not be an option for function and/or aesthetics.

2) You could use 3/8" or 1/2" acrylic, PVC or another rigid reef safe material and fashion a large "washer" to fit under the flange and extend past the cracks. You would need the original gasket on the flange, and a new DIY gasket between the washer and glass. If the material was PVC you could glue it to the existing flange with PVC cement and forgoe that original gasket. You would in effect be making the flange a larger diameter.

3) Epoxy that is glass compatible may be another option. Windshield repair epoxies or similar come to mind. In this case you would fill the chips and smooth them as well as possible. Light sanding with a sanding block would make them flush with the existing glass. The original gasket and flange should then work.

The larger the bulkhead, the more force it will take to seal. It is a simple matter of the pounds per square inch distributed to the gasket as you screw down the nut. Larger gaskets have more surface area and take more torque to achieve a seal.

Silicone is a last resort here. Gobbing it on will only make a mess and may only band-aid the problem. Don't bother doing anything to the NUT side of the bulkhead. That for sure is only a bandaid and will give you a false sense of security.

With the larger diameter bulkhead, a bit of food safe silicone lubricant between the nut and glass will help you tighten the nut down by reducing the friction.

No matter WHAT method you end up using, once you set the bulkhead, the plumbing should be permanently secured so that it can not put stress (lateral torque) on the bulkhead or gasket.

I am sure Steve or Adam (or any other DIY minded club member) may have some other ideas as well.
 
I never thought about reversing the bulkhead, that may work as the outside is not chipped.

Thanks!

Ray
 
I am thinking about the acrylic flange option or reversing the bulkhead.

I drained a good part of the tank and took the bulkheads off and there are some chips on the outside too, but not as bad as on the inside.

Is that glass epoxy readily available?

I am not sure which way I will go. What do you think would be the most secure way?

--Ray
 
Is there a certain type of rubber that I should use if I decide to make the acrylic flang? I haven't worked with acrylic, what do you use to cut out the holes?

You mentioned a flat piece of PVC, where would I find such a thing?

Thanks and sorry for all of the questions!!

--Ray
 
Last edited:
The rubber needs to be somewhat stiff on the durometer scale. I have some softer neoprene that you could try... HD and LOWES have about the same stuff, it is used for shower pan liners. Pond liner may be a bit stiffer.

McMaster and Grainger have rubber... as well as a guy on eBay called RubberMan.

McMaster has the PVC sheet stock also. I purchased an 12" x 12" x 1" for my skimmer... it was $18 i think.

Bean
 
McMaster Part numbers for 12x12 PVC sheet goods:

1/4" ABS sheet 87265K26
3/8" PVC sheet 8747K115
1/2" PVC sheet 8747K116

For a gasket you could try 8610K83 which is a 12" x 12" 3/32" EPDM rubber sheet that is 60 Durometer (hardness scale).

Can you tell me how thick the gaskets you have now are?

With regards to the PVC or ABS sheets:
The PVC is cheaper than the ABS sheet and thicker. The thicker sheet will flex less and likely provide a better seal.

However if the bulkheads are made of ABS then the ABS sheet would bond better. That is why I listed it as well. Are the bulkheads BLACK or GREY? Do they have a name on them? We can figure out what they are made of.
 
Mcmaster.com they mail order.. you do not need to be a business (with grainger you do). Grainger has a local store... mcmaster does not :)
 
Ray I have never tried to make the flange on a bulkhead bigger... It should work, but I would not stake my life on it. Again, the larger the flange and surface area, the more torque you will need to get it to seal :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8482361#post8482361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
McMaster Part numbers for 12x12 PVC sheet goods:

1/4" ABS sheet 87265K26
3/8" PVC sheet 8747K115
1/2" PVC sheet 8747K116

For a gasket you could try 8610K83 which is a 12" x 12" 3/32" EPDM rubber sheet that is 60 Durometer (hardness scale).

Can you tell me how thick the gaskets you have now are?

With regards to the PVC or ABS sheets:
The PVC is cheaper than the ABS sheet and thicker. The thicker sheet will flex less and likely provide a better seal.

However if the bulkheads are made of ABS then the ABS sheet would bond better. That is why I listed it as well. Are the bulkheads BLACK or GREY? Do they have a name on them? We can figure out what they are made of.
Click to expand...

The bulkheads that were on there cannot be reused. I had to destroy them to get them off so I will need to get 4 new bulkheads.

Any recommendations?

--Ray
 
I don't think the ones that were on there were PVC, I tried to connect a piece of PVC pipe to it using the PCV Cement and it did not take.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8482373#post8482373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Ray I have never tried to make the flange on a bulkhead bigger... It should work, but I would not stake my life on it. Again, the larger the flange and surface area, the more torque you will need to get it to seal :)
Click to expand...

The new flange would only need to be about 1/4 of an inch bigger than the existing flange. The chips are just a hair bigger than the existing gasket.

--Ray
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8482562#post8482562 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
They are 4" bulkheads?
Click to expand...

They are the standard one inch bulkheads, I have four of them in the tank.
 
High quality... but almost $100 each.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/6862

These are $50 each and made of polypropylene... nothing will stick to them... the stuff is almost impossible to glue or silicone.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/6835

Here are some PVC ... but kinda spendy!
http://www.plumbingwarehouse.com/bulkhead.html

Savko has a decent selection and decent prices as well. From what I understand the Savko heavy duty PVC fittings are pretty darn nice.
http://www.savko.com/partlist.asp?pgid=2

Us plastics has the Hayward brand for about $85 each
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/va...gory_name=37&product_id=5801&variant_id=16618

And of course McMaster has a full page of them WITH ALL OF THE PERTINENT MEASUREMENTS! Just search for BULKHEAD at McMaster and you will see that page 95 and 96 of the catalog have everything you wanted to know. You will also notice that most of their bulkheads are the same ones you find on the other sites and catalogs.... but they have better prices in most cases and ALL THE MEASURMENTS.

You will need to make sure the unit you pick will fit in your existing holes... you cna also look for one that fits the hole and has the widest flange :)

Bill
 
In any case all of those links have a pretty good selection of 1" deals. Check out the McMaster site and see which one has the largest flange diameter and will fit in your existing tank holes :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8482644#post8482644 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
In any case all of those links have a pretty good selection of 1" deals. Check out the McMaster site and see which one has the largest flange diameter and will fit in your existing tank holes :)
Click to expand...

It looks like the mcmasters site only sells bulkheads with threaded fittings, am I reading that correctly? I would like 'slide' fittings, is there an industry term for those?
 
Also for that size... we can get you a closet flange or other fitting that has a flat area that is a few inches accross... that stuff can be purchased from the hardware store! We can try my EPDM rubber or get a small piece localy.

I would say order up a PVC 1" bulkhead or see of Jason or somebody has one in stock. We can play around with extending the flange a little bit for almost nothing!

Is this an emergency? Is there livestock that is in danger?
 
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