My 90 gallon reef, has been leaving a small puddle on the floor everyday for the last week, and I have finally traced it to a small drip around my bulhead for my drilled tank overflow. I don't have any ideas for stopping it except draining the tank, and resealing it. The tank is well established and fully stocked, so that isn't an option. Has this happened to anyone else. What should I do to seal it???
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Leaky Bulkhead!! Help
- Thread starter morepunkthanewe
- Start date
I had the same problem when I initially setup my tank. The overflow box and the space I had to work with was too hard to fix unless I emptied the tank and have it lying on it's side. The acrylic tank must have been like 10 yrs old.
My solution is patience. I had a small leak where I wrapped a towel around the leaky area (small drops) and within 1 week it sealed up by itself. The salt creep and the calcium deposit must have sealed itself.
I might be just lucky.
My solution is patience. I had a small leak where I wrapped a towel around the leaky area (small drops) and within 1 week it sealed up by itself. The salt creep and the calcium deposit must have sealed itself.
I might be just lucky.
Well you have a couple of choices. Sometimes these things re-seal over time. My first bit of advice would be to just put a pan under the leak and wait to see what happens. If that doesnt work or if it gets worse you may want to try and tighten the bulkhead, I would do this very gingerly, like by 8th turns on the nut. The last resort is to drain and do it right but my first choice would be to just wait.
The real question is what is the root cause of the leak, why did it start now. Did the system shift, are your floors moving, did some LR move? Try to find the answer to that and it should help point to the solution.
The real question is what is the root cause of the leak, why did it start now. Did the system shift, are your floors moving, did some LR move? Try to find the answer to that and it should help point to the solution.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by DRT:
<strong>...you may want to try and tighten the bulkhead, I would do this very gingerly, like by 8th turns on the nut.</strong><hr></blockquote>
If you do re-tighten the bulkhead, beware of a potential problem. There are at least two different gasket materials being used with these bulkheads.
The ones we normally stock are made by Casco, or one other manufacturer and they have a very tough rubber gasket. You can tighten as much as you want - no problem.
However, the bulkheads from Rainbow Lifegard (which are the ones that come with AGA tanks) have more of a foamy type of rubber for the gasket. It's able to stretch more so if you tighten it too much, the gasket gets squeezed completely out from under the bulkhead - bad news.
Unfortunately, there is no way to tell which kind it is with the bulkhead already in place. Go slowly like DRT suggests and try to keep an eye on the gasket from below to see if it starts to squeeze out from one side.
<strong>...you may want to try and tighten the bulkhead, I would do this very gingerly, like by 8th turns on the nut.</strong><hr></blockquote>
If you do re-tighten the bulkhead, beware of a potential problem. There are at least two different gasket materials being used with these bulkheads.
The ones we normally stock are made by Casco, or one other manufacturer and they have a very tough rubber gasket. You can tighten as much as you want - no problem.
However, the bulkheads from Rainbow Lifegard (which are the ones that come with AGA tanks) have more of a foamy type of rubber for the gasket. It's able to stretch more so if you tighten it too much, the gasket gets squeezed completely out from under the bulkhead - bad news.
Unfortunately, there is no way to tell which kind it is with the bulkhead already in place. Go slowly like DRT suggests and try to keep an eye on the gasket from below to see if it starts to squeeze out from one side.
Correct me if Im wrong but if its a drilled tank with an overflow you can just drain the tank below the overflow edge, let the overflow box in the tank empty and fix the bulk head.
To fix the bulkhead take it off and recenter the rubber washer then hand tighten it. Ue 100% silicone and seal around it inside and on the bottom of your tank. Then just put the water back in, do a 15 gal water change!
To fix the bulkhead take it off and recenter the rubber washer then hand tighten it. Ue 100% silicone and seal around it inside and on the bottom of your tank. Then just put the water back in, do a 15 gal water change!
thanks for the replies. I have temporarily fixed the problem by moving my sump so that the drips fall into the sump. As long as the leak doesn't get worse, I think this should be fine. I tried sealing with silicone first, but since it doesn't set up fast enough, the water just pushes right through. I may try to get some aqua-mend epoxy and try that too, but for now it looks like I'm alright.
Go out and get some of that "plumbers best friend" stuff from Home Depot. It is a waterproof epoxy that is capable of setting underwater or when wet. The only drawback is that it settles like cement and will be a permant seal. It is a two part compound that you mix and apply it on the inside and the outside of the tank. Just make sure you find the one that is non-toxic. Sorry I don't know the products name.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Is the nut on your bulkhead on the outside or the inside? If the nut is on the outside you could loosen it and try to recenter it with out causing a flood. The pressure down on the bulkhead from the inside would prevent this. after it is centered you can fill the void around the column with silicone glue and then replace the nut back on the threaded column. I had to do this on one of my sump bulkheads and it stopped the leak immediatly. It too was a steady drip and I could see it was off center.
YOur gasket is on the flange side and not the nut side right? That could be another problem. I have seen some use the gasket on the wrong side of the bulkhead.
Jeff
YOur gasket is on the flange side and not the nut side right? That could be another problem. I have seen some use the gasket on the wrong side of the bulkhead.
Jeff
I don't use bulkheads on my tanks. I just glue the pipe in place (I would use a bulkhead with a stand-pipe type system though). So, you can glue PVC to glass with no problems.
I would seal the joint with silicone glue from the outside. The glue will cure when wet so the little drip you have is not an issue. Just use plenty of glue - if it's out of site it dosen't matter if you use far too much glue.
I would seal the joint with silicone glue from the outside. The glue will cure when wet so the little drip you have is not an issue. Just use plenty of glue - if it's out of site it dosen't matter if you use far too much glue.
hi.
If all else failed, you may attempt the following before completely draining the tank.
Get a 3 inch diameter PVC pipe slightly longer than the standpipe. Smooth one end of it and put a gommet or gasket on it. Stop the pump, and let the water level settle down, then move the sand around the standpipe until you see clean bottom of the tank. Push the big PVC pipe down until the gasket seat nicely on the bottom (make sure no sand, etc). Ask someone to hold it there while you remove the bulkhead... quickly!
If all else failed, you may attempt the following before completely draining the tank.
Get a 3 inch diameter PVC pipe slightly longer than the standpipe. Smooth one end of it and put a gommet or gasket on it. Stop the pump, and let the water level settle down, then move the sand around the standpipe until you see clean bottom of the tank. Push the big PVC pipe down until the gasket seat nicely on the bottom (make sure no sand, etc). Ask someone to hold it there while you remove the bulkhead... quickly!
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