Bulkhead leaking

bh750 · Feb 4, 2018

I was cleaning my tank and bumped the durso standpipe at the top. Now the bulkhead is leaking ,a slow drip. From looking underneath I can't see a crack. I've been worried about these ever since I bought the tank in 2005.

I'm afraid to tighten and break the glass bottom. I'm thinking the best approach might be to stop the flow, drain the overflow box and remove the pipe and bulkhead for inspection?.

Crabs McJones · Feb 4, 2018

bh750 said:
I was cleaning my tank and bumped the durso standpipe at the top. Now the bulkhead is leaking ,a slow drip. From looking underneath I can't see a crack. I've been worried about these ever since I bought the tank in 2005.

I'm afraid to tighten and break the glass bottom. I'm thinking the best approach might be to stop the flow, drain the overflow box and remove the pipe and bulkhead for inspection?.

Correct, if you bumped it hard enough you might have caused the nut to jump a thread loosening it. Drain it, unthread the nut and inspect it for smashed or crossed threads, and also check the pipe bulkhead and overflow box for cracks :)

Charterreefer · Feb 4, 2018

If you take it apart make sure to re-apply teflon tape to the threads. It should help in tightening a bit more and avoiding a leak. Make sure nothing from the side of the overflow falls to the bottom and gets in between the seal when you redo it.
If it's a very slow drip it might stop on its own since there is no pressure to speak of since it's a drain.

ca1ore · Feb 4, 2018

When a bulkhead has been installed for a while, and gets bumped, it will very often start to drip because the 'seal' got broken. Though you certainly may have cracked something, it's unlikely. Tightening will usually make things worse. Best is as you propose - drain down the overflow, remove the bulkhead, inspect for damage, clean the gasket/flange/tank glass and reinstall. There is no reason to use teflon tape on the external bulkhead threads. Even with internal threads, you should be using paste not tape.