I have a leak!!!!

[FlyTekk]

My tank is leaking about a drip every 30 seconds. Its comming from the bulk head that leads to the durso drain. I cant tighten bulkhead because its siliconed shut. The water is comming through this silicone. I bought the tank this way a few months ago but no leak till now.

Is there a way to stop this leak? Can it become really bad over night and start skuirting as soon as tonight?

Need help!!!!!

 

[bigdog1428]

Drain it untill it's lower then overflow And then silicone from inside

 

[duke62]

why is it siliconed shut.i would drain out the overflow and redo the bulk head.its very difficult to just silicone over a leaky bulk head.trust me i went through that already

 

[FlyTekk]

I dont know the whole back of tank around the bulk head is siliconed.

It would be to hard to remove all that silicone to get to bulkhead.

What if i silicone over the bulkhead on the inside?

 

[duke62]

silicone is not cement.if you twist it it will come off.did you buy this tank used?

 

[FlyTekk]

Yea it was used. But i mean the silicone is spread across a large circumference around the bulk head. Is there anything at homedepot i can pick up right now!

 

[mbg75]

Bulkhead shouldn't have silicone..there should be a rubber gasket between the bulkhead and glass. Just drop the water level down, remove the bulkhead, clean the area and replace the gaskets.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[duke62]

well sounds like the guy who sold you the tank had the same problem thats why its siliconed up like that.leave it for tonight and go get yourself a new bulkhead in the morning.its eiter the bulkhead or there is a crack in the glass.use a pair of pliers to crack the bulkhead and it will come loose check for cracks in the glass then install the new bulkhead

 

[masterswimmer]

Bulkhead shouldn't have silicone..there should be a rubber gasket between the bulkhead and glass. Just drop the water level down, remove the bulkhead, clean the area and replace the gaskets.

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+100

I'm baffled as to why people use silicone on bulkheads :banghead:

Take a straight razor blade, scrape all the silicone off the glass first (it'll be easier).
Then take a Dremel cut off wheel and cut off the bulkhead.
Replace it with a new bulkhead and install it correct.
Viola, leak gone.

Russ

 

[FlyTekk]

Can this start squirting hard quickly. If there is a slight chance of that happening i would take precautionary measures!

 

[masterswimmer]

Anything is possible, especially due to the fact that we don't know exactly what is causing the leak in the first place.
If this were my tank, I'd be addressing this right away.

Russ

 

[duke62]

russ you dont need to cut the bulkhead its silicone.all you have to do is turn it with a wrench and it will come loose.its not crazy glue or opoxy.i had a tank that was loaded with silicone and it comes right apart

 

[FlyTekk]

I think the silicone is over the bulk head. Not in it. So its just a secondary safety i guess. But now not even the silicone over the bulkhead is stopping the leak. Reason why i want to silicone from inside is cause bulkhead, durso drain and pvc pipes etc are all glued together.

 

[duke62]

fly when i had a leak in my bulk head i made a troth to funnel the water in my sump.it was like this for awhile because i hurt my back and couldnt fix it.make something to try and funnel the water down

 

[masterswimmer]

Its comming from the bulk head that leads to the durso drain. I cant tighten bulkhead because its siliconed shut. The water is comming through this silicone.

Is there a way to stop this leak? Can it become really bad over night and start skuirting as soon as tonight?

I took this to mean that he couldn't tighten OR loosen the bulkhead because of the excess silicone used all over the bulkhead. In which case, it's real easy to remove with a Dremel. No need to consider saving it since a new one would be used in its place.

Russ

 

[duke62]

i was guessing he didnt even try because of the silicone

 

[piranhapat]

You need to empty the that selection run other filter for now. Than remove bulk fittings see if you have a crack around the hole. Replace with a new bulkhead. Maybe he had wrong bulkhead. If you have a crack now would be the time to fix it. Thats what good with a reef ready. You only have to worried about that area. Don't do a quick fix. Do it right.

 

[FlyTekk]

Im not good with pvc plumbing, but im gonna cut the pvc off to get the bulk head off. Will have to make another durso i guess which i dont know how to make.

I confirmed it is the bulk head because when i turn off my main pump and water level in overflow drops below bulkhead leak stops.

Will home depot have good bulk heads or should i go to manhattan aquariums after work tomorrow?

 

[litoreef]

just go to manhattan aguarium i just got two 1 inch bulk heads from them about a week ago , end i try home depot end i had no luck ..

 

[FlyTekk]

How do i know what size i need?