check those older bulkheads!

acroholic

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I just got up a few minutes ago. Last night I was watching some tv down in the basement where my tanks are. I look over at my 265 gallon Marineland RR that is a FW community tank, and there is no water movement. It has a wet dry filter with an external Little Giant pump. Turns out the pump is locked up and too hot to touch.

No problem, I have a Pan World 100px-x left over from my reef return pump redo that is a great replacement. I set about swapping out at 1 am., and this requires a bit of tugging/pulling on the vinyl tubing/barb fittings on the return assembly that goes to the bulkheads under the tank. Water starts leaking out from the return bulkheads, so I have this bad pump and two leaking bulkheads in the middle of the night.

This tank has been sitting untouched, plumbing-wise, for about 3 years. Turns out ALL the bulkheads, 4 for the intake returns, and the two on the wet/dry, were actually loose, and I tightly hand tightened them myself when I set up and plumbed the tank three years ago.

My only guess is that over time maybe the gasket shrinks or something? Not that much vibration in the tank to account for it.

Anyways, after disassembling, cleaning, and reinstalling the leakers (thought they were cracked at first), all is back to normal.

If your bulkheads have been in place a while, you might want to check them for tightness. I'm checking my 240 gallon FW RR tank this afternoon. It is even older than my 265.

I finally got to bed about 5 am.

Dave
 
Checked the six bulkheads on my older 240 gallon tank/wet dry, and sure enough, the bulkheads were loose enough to easily turn by hand. The gaskets mush shrink a bit over time. All tightened up now!
 
Something to add to the tank maintanance calender for the beginning of each year
 
yep gaskets shrink over time.
being in the automotive biz i see that all the time.
unless its 100% metal, its gonna shrink.
 
So, there is a special place in forum hell for me bumping such an old thread, but I need some advice. Last night I noticed water pooling in the bottom of my 120 stand. After removing the sump, I traced the leak to the back left corner where the corner overflow is installed. I removed the bulkheads and drained the overflow. I neglected to check the tightness of the nuts on the bulkheads before I removed them..... I went to bed convinced I had a leak in the bottom seam of my tank and would need to tear it down in the morning. Before heading to bed, I dried all the wet areas under the tank. I checked the back corner this morning, and it's dry. The tank has been setup for 2 years. I haven't recently done any work on the bulkheads or plumbing. No accidental bumps or tweaks that could have dislodged plumbing... Has anyone else besides Acroholic ever had a gasket loosen up on them and had the bulkhead spontaneously start leaking???

My wife is currently 39.5 weeks pregnant and I simply don't have time to be fooling with a potentially leaking tank.

Any advice would be super appreciated, I'm at the end of my rope with this situations timing!

Jeff
 
JeffH;937713 wrote: So, there is a special place in forum hell for me bumping such an old thread, but I need some advice. Last night I noticed water pooling in the bottom of my 120 stand. After removing the sump, I traced the leak to the back left corner where the corner overflow is installed. I removed the bulkheads and drained the overflow. I neglected to check the tightness of the nuts on the bulkheads before I removed them..... I went to bed convinced I had a leak in the bottom seam of my tank and would need to tear it down in the morning. Before heading to bed, I dried all the wet areas under the tank. I checked the back corner this morning, and it's dry. The tank has been setup for 2 years. I haven't recently done any work on the bulkheads or plumbing. No accidental bumps or tweaks that could have dislodged plumbing... Has anyone else besides Acroholic ever had a gasket loosen up on them and had the bulkhead spontaneously start leaking???

My wife is currently 39.5 weeks pregnant and I simply don't have time to be fooling with a potentially leaking tank.

Any advice would be super appreciated, I'm at the end of my rope with this situations timing!

Jeff

I would have never thought of this as a problem. Thanks again Dave!

This is one of those threads that should be bumped randomly every year or so.

Jeff, my 180 started leaking after about 8 months of setup. I then and until now just assumed that I had bumped it. Now I wonder how much of a role I actually played in that....
 
Well, the wife hasn't gone into labor yet, so I had time to work on the tank. Gaskets are reinstalled and appear to no longer be leaking. Apparently the fish tank just wanted some attention. :o
 
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