leaking bulkhead

D

dustin_P74

Reef enthusiast
what the f**k do i do, its the bulkhead from the right drain line and its at about 2 drips a second but the drips hit the lip of my sump and bounce out so it looks like the drywall behind it is getting hit with splash and it is running off the back end of the sump to the outside so i think i have a puddle building behind my sump in the stand. please help
 
I have the same problem but not as bad. I shut off the water flow to that overflow and silicon it. I'll know if it worked tomorrow. I was going to use the puddy stuff but I was out.
 
i dont have either of those, plus with the return line off it doesnt stop the dripping, so i turned the pump back on to see it that would cause the dripping to increase and since it didnt i just fired the return pump back on so i dont have to risk any coral or fish deaths
 
Last edited:
That's strange. The drip should be faster with water running through it because of all the water pressure.When I shut off the water flow to one of my overflows the drip stopped. I dried it up really good and silicon it. I still have the other overflow running. So I just moved a powerhead to the off side of the tank until I turn that side back on.
 
For now, get a towel and put it underneath the drip so at least the water is being absorbed. As soon as you can, get some epoxy putty and try to plug it up. Use as much as you need to stuff it in the whole area. The same thing happened to me a while back. Epoxy stopped the drip, but it took a lot of it.
 
i have some towels, and i have left the company who set it up an email to see if they will do anything about it, if not ill just run to lowes tomorrow and and get some epoxy, is there any particular brand or type i should look for?
 
Plumbers Epoxy Putty. Just keep in mind, once it's on there, it's not coming off. If you ever need to remove the bulkhead, you will have to hacksaw it off.
Did you try tightening the nut on the bulkhead? The best solution is take the bulkhead out and use some silicone grease on the gasket.
 
I would silicone over the putty. The putty gets hard and is permenant but silicone can be removed in case you made a mistake.
 
Silicone alone won't work. The wet area from the leak will stop the silicone from sticking and it won't seal it up.
 
Lower the level of the water. I sealed the outside corner of a 55 gal tank while it was filled.

BTW Last post was supposed to say I would use silicone instead of putty not use silicone over putty.
 
Might be a good idea to drain the entire overflow.Then you can dry it out and use silicone around the gasket like Capt suggested.
Thats what I ended up having to do with all 4 of my bulkheads on my 125.
 
the company that installed it is coming out tomorrow to fix it, just gotta keep changing the towels and replacing water until then
 
ccCapt said:
Silicone alone won't work. The wet area from the leak will stop the silicone from sticking and it won't seal it up.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why I had to use epoxy instead of silicone when mine was leaking. I tried the silicone -- it didn't work. And it takes a lot longer to cure than epoxy does.
 
I would replace the bulkhead all together, There really is no good quick fix. Check the nut on the bulkhead if it is over tightened they will brake.
 
well i got the leaking stopped. turns out the bulkhead came lose somehow so the company that installed it came and tightened it free of charge which was awesome, and the kid even gave me a bulkhead tightener.
 
Be careful tools are what causes cracks. I hand tighten all of mine and I can't recall ever having a leak.
 
dustin_P74 said:
i did check it, but if its tighter then hand tight and still leaking how am i going to be able to tighten it?
Click to expand...
Channel locks or a pair of pliers ;) But too late now. Remember it for the next time.

bobby said:
Be careful tools are what causes cracks. I hand tighten all of mine and I can't recall ever having a leak.
Click to expand...
I hand tighten mine then give about a 1/8 turn with channel locks.
 

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