Leaking Bulkhead

M

manissen12

Member
Hi everyone.

So I bought this 93 gallon cube tank from a local reefer. There have definitely been some headaches along the way but i think I've just encountered the biggest headache of them all. I noticed today while looking at the tank that I have a leak. As I've said before, the original owner of this tank glued the bulkheads to the tank and the pvc he also glued to the bulkheads. The tank currently is in my family room completely filled and cycled. Below is a video of the leak. My question to all of you, is there a way to seal the bulkhead from where it's leaking without having to dismantle my entire tank? I know it's highly frowned upon using any type of glue or adhesive on the bulkhead but at this point I really don't have many options. Option two is to completely empty the tank, move it back to the garage and figure out a way to remove the bulkhead... Would love to avoid this option if possible.

From what I can see, the leak looks to be happening not from the outside of the bulkhead but inside. Not sure if that's possible but we can all see it's leaking. Would love to get some feedback :banghead:

[video]https://youtu.be/_iAd1C7fjf4[/video]
 
Can you drain the overflow area, and replace the leaking bulkhead? Glue the new parts together ahead of time. Tough situation.
 
Perhaps you could find a large diameter flexible hose, and clamp on the bulk head threads and clamp the other end to the rest of your drain tubing.
 
I cannot tell from the video, but is the bulkhead cracked and leaking or is it leaking from the nut?

Although it sucks to say this, drain the tank and fix the bulkheads entirely while it's barely fully running. This is the one thing you absolutely need to get right. I have "ghetto-rigged" enough plumbing to know not to mess with bulkheads. I don't frown upon glue, as I've done it in the past, the problem is if it cracks down the line, the glue will make it 100x harder to repair and by then you'll have a full blown tank to deal with it.
 
Fish Wiz, It looks like it's leaking from the nut. I'm honestly contemplating emptying the entire tank and fixing this problem now.
 
manissen12 said:
Fish Wiz, It looks like it's leaking from the nut. I'm honestly contemplating emptying the entire tank and fixing this problem now.
Click to expand...

I say do it, I really don’t like the glue job they did on the return side.

Also just a pro tip, make sure the rubber gasket goes on the opposite side of the nut, not the other way around.
 
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