Bulkhead fitting leak

[AmaleeC]

Hello all! I finally finished the plumbing on my 180g and it has a leak where the bulkheads are :(

The tank held water when purchased and held water for some time before I emptied it and started plumbing, hence the water droplets.

I was hoping to get some advice on how to fix this as it’s in an uncomfortable spot and I know nothing about plumbing… I imagine silicone would just do the trick right?

Thank you all in advance.

 

[Clarkjw2002]

By "held water" during the test do you mean including the overflow and bulkheads?

Assuming not you just need to crank the bulkhead nut down a little more.

I had one leak there when I set my current tank up. Was able to get two hands up on the nut and tighten a little more and that stopped it. Everything was one hand tight and I thought I'd have plenty of access until I actually put the pipes in.

It looks like, if you move the sump, you can get under there, stick both hands on the nut, and twist some more. It's your best shot.

Silicone will not work, at least not permanently.

Also, if the bulkhead is old then you may need a new gasket, especially if it was taken off and put back on.

 

[AmaleeC]

No, the bulkheads had caps on them. When I referred to “holding water”, I meant the display. I just siliconed the overflows the day prior.

I’ll try to give it a shot on tightening these things. Everything’s so snug now and I wish I caught it before!

My husband built this stand himself and I didn’t even think to make these holes bigger and ensure that I had easy access to the bulkheads. Its my first drilled tank.

My dad recommended pipe dope, but I don’t think that’s reef safe. Thoughts?

 

[geologeek]

If a slight tightening is not the solution, then it's a remove, clean, check and refit sort of situation. A slight bit of something is stopping the bulkhead seal. So cleaning and refitting might remedy the situation.

Don't try and bodge a seal with silicone etc unless you are planning to strip it down at some unknown point in the future when the seal leaks...... normally before you had planned to fix/replace it.

 

[Pntbll687]

you can take a wrench and try to tighten the bulkeheads a little more. The general rule is hand tight, then a half turn with a wrench (at least that's what I do).

If that doesn't stop it, you may have to drain the overflow, loosen the bulkheads, clean under the gasket, and reinstall.

As a last resort, I mean you try EVERYTHING to get them tight and it still has a drip, add a small bead of silicone under the gasket and reinstall the nuts to tighten them down.

 

[780blaster]

i had a similar issue when i was setting up a new tank / plumbing just before christmas. 2/3 were good, one had the slightest seep. Tightening it didn't help. What did was completely removing in, cleaning both sides of the glass just with distilled water, and finally letting it completely dry.

I did find it odd that the rubber gaskets like the surfaces to be completely dry but thats what ended up doing the trick!

 

[AmaleeC]

Thank you all.

I do see some dried silicone so I’m thinking the previous owner put some there to prevent leaks.

I’m going to take everyone’s advice and ensure I fix it properly before the tank is up and running.

 

[AmaleeC]

Hi everyone! So after removing everything we found that these were installed upside down and siliconed.

I believe I broke the silicone seal and that’s why it leaked. I want to remove them completely and replace with new ones, installed the correct way. But I can NOT get these off! My husband and I were at it for a hot minute with no luck. Any ideas?

 

[KrisReef]

Nothing good to recommend, trying to remove these will be difficult.

I think you need to be prepared to turn the tank upside down and cut the plastic bulkheads in two to get them off and out of the way.

I am thinking that there is a product to dissolve silicone but that might distroy the tank in the process.

 

[AmaleeC]

Yeah I had the same thought process on dissolving the silicone..

I am going to try again another time but am walking away for now. It’s flat out too frustrating to continue.

I’m tempted to pay for an aquarium maintenance service to come and take care of the bulkheads, overflow install and re-plumbing. I’m terrified of damaging the tank. It’s 3/4 glass but it’s not invincible.