Busted bulkhead, leaky tank and I'm in a panic

[DiscusDan]

Hey everyone, I haven't been around in a while but that's mostly because my reef tank has been goin along without a problem for a while now. Now though, I have issues which are compounded by the fact that I'm going to be leaving the state Wed-Saturday...

I have a 65Gallon reef-ready tank with a corner overflow with the stand pipes that go all the way to the bottom of the tank. Well I was trying to catch a fish in the overflow and ended up causing a leak at the bulkhead. While trying to fix it I broke the bulkhead.

I've already looked at Home Depot this morning, they've got nothing. Does anyone know anywhere local that I can get a 1"x1" bulkhead?
(just like this one )
And also a 2" - 1" reducer since it's apparently epoxied to the bulkhead (It was assembled when I bought the tank)

Right now I have all my fish and corals in a 30 gallon rubbermaid container on the floor with just a powerhead and a heater... I don't have any SPS but everything I have is used to a pretty high current. For fish there's 2 clowns, a dragonet, a hippotang, a foxface, a blenny, a firefish, and a coral beauty so the rubbermaid container is waaaaaaay overstocked... I'm in a total panic right now.

The problem is that I'm leaving town for 4 days on Wednesday, if I could find a local source for the parts I need I'd just pull an all nighter and get it set up before I leave. I need advice bad... How long can everything stay in the rubbermaid container? (i'll do a a couple of water changes)

What should I do?

Thanks for any help,
Dan

 

[Piazzon12]

why did you have to remove everything from the tank? You could just leave everything in the tank, and just turn off the return pump so that water doesnt go over the overflow. Just move your heaters to the main tank and be sure there is surface agitation for gas exchange
Call the LFS's to check for a bulkhead.

 

[DiscusDan]

That's what I wanted to do but the seal between the overflow and the main tank isn't water tight apparently... I'll probably silicone that all up during this mess so that in the future i can do just that...

Which LFS might have that type of part? I figured I'd at least stop at Creature Comforts on lunch today...

Pretty much anything that could go wrong has gone wrong in the past 2 days

 

[Newreeflady]

What size is your hole? Different 1" bulkheads require different diameter holes. They have a very heavy duty bulkhead available at Agway in Ithaca.

 

[Newreeflady]

They are threaded, though, and I don't know if you're using slip

 

[DiscusDan]

Yeah, the one i'm using is slip x slip... The holes i believe are 1 and 3/4...

If my lunchtime scavenger hunt goes poorly i'll probably just order a whole new megaflow kit from drfosters... Kinda pricy for what it is but no one said this hobby was cheap!

 

[Newreeflady]

I see. I have 2 3/4 3/4 slip threads, but I don't think that's what you want, either. Really, like I said, it depends on the hole diameter as to whether or not one will fit. The ID (what they give you when they say 1") is set, but the OD varies quite a bit and you don't want a bulkhead that is too small or it won't seal well.

gl,
a

 

[DiscusDan]

Well here's my post-lunchtime update to my dilemma... The local hardware stores have nothing even resembling the type of bulkhead we use in our aquariums. Creature Comforts had the Megaflow Overflow kit for All Glass aquariums... I thought that's what I had so I was ecstatic, got it home and found out that it's not what I have. The overflow pipes and fittings are far bigger and heavy duty than the megaflow kit so now I have a spare overflow kit...
Anyway - I was sick of dealing with this the "right" way, I decided to do it my way, got out the JB Weld and fixed the stinkin bulkhead. Cleaned the contact points and the gaskets and assembled it all real tight.
I see from another thread that the zoo tank had the same problem, the gaskets on the overflow started leaking and then got worse when trying to fix them - why does that happen? This is the 2nd time it's happened to me and I know I was really careful last time to make a secure fit... Argh!

 

[thepircs]

I was able to get some bulkheads from the swimming pool place in Vestal across 434 from Olums.

 

[alextheromanian]

you can also use the conduit PVC male and female adapters with a simple flat gasket from home depot ....its what i use in both my tanks for about 6 holes and they were cheap and hold up VERY well...

also cost be about 1.20$ per bulkhead as opposed to $5+

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