Too many unions created unnecessary problem.

[six foot]

when building my tank I went for the idea unions unions unions. yesterday morning I was doing some much needed cleaning of my sump adjusted a union (main drain with gate valve) under the stand and a union under the overflow loosened up and began to drip. OMG 140 ish total volume tank and sump, and cant reach the leak between the wall and tank 72 inch tank with overflow centered. drained the entire system (less 2 inches for fish) really not a problem to capture the water to reuse with my setup but what an ordeal. with all the rock and sand I was still unable to lift by myself the left side of the tank myself. I had to remove some rockwork and took the opportunity to remove some what I can describe as some excess sand. Threw out approximately 50-60 lbs of sand not to return, and I was finally able to just slide the tank far enough to get behind and retighten the unions. I found all the unions were only finger tight after about a year after install. Note that all unions were what we call in the mechanic world gorilla grip tight originally.

I am not a plumber however I believe the rubber o-ring gasket gave way to the pressure overtime, not that the fitting un-screwed over time from vibration (my guess), but rather the gasket compressed which made the union loose and led to the leak after time and slight movement of pipes under the stand.

Next time I will not use so many unions, it does make it easier for original install but may lead to problems in the future.

My lessons learned.

No unions for me if I cannot reach them to check for tightness.

MJ 1200 pump is a lifesaver to completely empty a sump.

Sand and rock are also heavy, will be removing more sand in the future.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I guess too many unions could be a problem. But having gate valves as close the tank on both drains and returns can be a life saver.