1000 gallon tank for a beginner!

[SlowAndStupid]

Well you can't silicone acrylic but I don't think the leak is at the acrylic. I could potentially silicone between the bulkhead and pvc I suppose. I changed it the bulkhead yesterday. Will repeat a leak test this afternoon.

 

[McPuff]

Noob question since I’ve never had acrylic - can you silicon and seal the bulkhead from the exterior side of the tank? It might be easier to remove silicon from just one side than to cut the piping if you glue a slip in.

It actually doesn't matter if you've got acrylic or glass, the bulkhead will have threads on the outside so the nut can secure it to the tank itself. The slip portion is for the pipe and that is on the inside of the bulkhead that protrudes through the tank. It's generally not recommended to silicone the bulkhead in place as it's a REAL pain to remove or adjust.

 

[Sltloser]

Yes, the hole was large enough to fit my hand into and clean the bottom. I have it emptied again so I can't take a picture of it leaking however I could watch the drop form in the small space where the bulkhead thread ends and the pvc adapter comes out of. There area above it is dry. I ran my hand along the outside of the bulkhead and external threads which are palpably dry as well.

Ahhh gotcha, so that should eliminate a bad seal that is leaking down into the threads. Are you using schedule 80 bulkheads (grey) and schedule 40 PVC fitting (white)? I haven't ever had issues with the threads not being compatible but it might be worth trying a schedule 80 threaded adapter to the PVC pipe? (If it still leaks after your next test).

 

[stewy14]

your're gonna be the new liveaquaria.com
your're gonna have every fish know to man in there XD

 

[mch1984]

Just found this thread and read through all of it. It would be awesome to buy a house with a built in tank. I have found my 3d printers to be super handy. If there no part that does exactly what I need it to do, design it and print it. Hopefully you get the bulkhead issue figured out.

 

[SlowAndStupid]

I'm not ready to call it a victory yet however I broke everything down last night and reinstalled the old bulkhead with the new gasket and purchased all new pipe dope and redoped the threads to the pipe. I turned everything back on this afternoon and 6 hours later still no leaks. I'm not calling it a success until I see no leaks for the whole weekend though. I remain cautiously optimistic!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

yay!

 

[Cthulukelele]

Awesome! I remember reading this post way back when you described the tank, and I can't wait to see more on it

 

[TeeSquared1214]

This is awesome, inspiring, and will probably make my wife nervous if she sees me looking at this, thinking that I might be getting ideas to remove a wall in our house.

 

[SlowAndStupid]

Just found this thread and read through all of it. It would be awesome to buy a house with a built in tank. I have found my 3d printers to be super handy. If there no part that does exactly what I need it to do, design it and print it. Hopefully you get the bulkhead issue figured out.

My 3d printer may be the most important piece of gear I have bought for the aquarium (upgraded from and ender3 to a Bambu labs P1S). I have designed and printed out all sorts of things since starting this build.

 

[mch1984]

My 3d printer may be the most important piece of gear I have bought for the aquarium (upgraded from and ender3 to a Bambu labs P1S). I have designed and printed out all sorts of things since starting this build.

I almost went bamboo labs but couldn't imagine I would need to print multiple colors. I wanted a core xy so I went qidi x-max 3, a little cheaper but no option for multiple colors. I still have my ender3s, it's old reliable.

 

[Macbalacano]

This is so awesome. Read the whole thread and following along. I admire your patience and determination. We’re all cheering for you!