Double sided bulkhead exist?

[Gp!]

I need to connect two rectangular plasic tanks together. I'd like them to be as close together as possible sort of like one large tank.

Is there such a thing as a double sided bulkhead? Two gaskets and a flange in the middle with threads on both ends. Kind of like the attach photo but threaded

 

[MarsRover]

I highly doubt it..... you might be able to get what you showed and thread it custom

 

[Gp!]

I highly doubt it..... you might be able to get what you showed and thread it custom

I don't really have the need for a big enough quantity to machine custom fittings. Hopefully something turns up

 

[MarsRover]

Just go to a machine shop! I bet they’d cut it down for you to what you want. Probably would have to make the other ends yourself too. Cost would be like an hour or two of their time.

 

[Fishfinder]

Does it need to be aesthetically pleasing? If not you could use a regular bulkhead and buy another gasket for the nut side

 

[Gp!]

Does it need to be aesthetically pleasing? If not you could use a regular bulkhead and buy another gasket for the nut side

No but that would leak around the threads

 

[MarsRover]

Does it need to be aesthetically pleasing? If not you could use a regular bulkhead and buy another gasket for the nut side

Lol well if it doesn’t have to look good, I got a million ideas!

OP, are the tank sides vertical/flat?

 

[Gp!]

Lol well if it doesn’t have to look good, I got a million ideas!

OP, are the tank sides vertical/flat?

Yes they are flat. Hopefully the final product looks clean but I'm not OCD over an artistic result

 

[Fishfinder]

No but that would leak around the threads

hahaha true

 

[JoshH]

Deleted

 

[Nubbs01]

Uniseals might work well depending on how much pressure

 

[Cjud7982]

Uniseals might work well depending on how much pressure

I think this is a possibility as well, although it would be a pain to get the tanks shoved together with the pipe between the Uni seals and the holes have to be dead on location to prevent stress on the glass, but they work amazing. A little risky using them with glass though with how hard the pipes go into them.

 

[Nubbs01]

When ever using uniseals I advise using food grade 100% silicone grease on the outside of the pipes. Otherwise you can have issues.

 

[Wiskey]

With the Ghost overflows they have the same issue. They have a single bulkhead with mutiple gaskets. You put the bulkhead through the first tank with a gasket on the inside, then a gasket between the first and second tank then the nut on the backside of the second tank. Provided the distance between the two tanks is less than a gasket width this should work. If it's more you can cut a peice of acrylic and use a gasket on both sides of it.

Whiskey

 

[rob G]

Do the two tanks have standard plastic trim? You can use a template for the glass bit to get the holes as close as possible, use two bulk heads but in reverse so the threaded side is inside the tank and the flange and gasket on the outside ( between the two tanks). You can even cut off any excess threads that go past the nut on the inside of the tank. You can purchase flexible pvc pipe to connect the two bulkheads. Still somewhat rigid in a short span like this but a little more forgiving than rigid pvc. Also, are you joining them near the top of the tanks?

 

[brian.brigg]

I don't see the problem. A normal bulkhead with two gaskets will do the job. Just look at how many are using ghost or shadow overflows in, essentially, the same situation. One gasket between the tanks and one on the inlet side is all you need, as long as your bulkheads are long enough. See the diagram.

 

[rob G]

I don't see the problem. A normal bulkhead with two gaskets will do the job. Just look at how many are using ghost or shadow overflows in, essentially, the same situation. One gasket between the tanks and one on the inlet side is all you need, as long as your bulkheads are long enough. See the diagram.

This will work just fine as long as you can get the two tanks close enough together to squeeze that middle gasket. Also the stand(s) these tanks are on better not allow much movement.

 

[CNDReef]

Can you just use a bulkhead on each tank going
Bulkhead-spa flex-union ball valve-spa flex -ball valve-bulkhead?

 

[Sleepydoc]

Depending on the types of tanks, etc, I can think of 4 possible solutions:

1. Use a standard bulkhead but put the gasket between the tanks as mentioned above. If you do this, you actually don’t need to have a gasket under the flange like you normally would, but it doesn’t hurt anything. You could conceivably do 2 gaskets if you need a bit of extra thickness, but I wouldn’t do more than that. If you are using standard, rimmed glass tanks, this probably won’t work.
2. Use a slip bulkhead on each tank with the flange on the outside and nut on the inside. Glue a short piece of PVC to each of the bulkheads to effectively make what you pictured in your first post. You can probably get the tanks as close as ½” together doing this. Both this and my first idea require the holes to be perfectly lined up. If the tanks are a bit farther apart, ultraflex tubing would give a bit of wiggle room.
3. Do the above but put a street elbow on each bulkhead. This requires the holes to be offset and requires 1 ½ ~ 2” between the tanks but gives you more wiggle room with the placement of the holes.
4. Uniseals, as mentioned above. Even with silicone grease, they need a fair amount of force to advance the pipe through them, and doing a pipe through 2 would be quite difficult, but could be conceivably done. If you are using a tank with thinner glass, I wouldn’t try this, though. Realistically, if you can do this, you can do a back to back bulkhead as in #2.

 

[CreatiVe2]

I am in a similar situation, and dont want to thread jack, but what resolution ever came of this?
I have 2 acrylic sumps flat together, 2 perfect holes in each, with 1" bulkheads, and they leaked the first time i put water in to test :/
I did not have a gasket on the threaded side (yet) and used silicone in between the 2 sumps. which obviously failed.
This thread is one of the only ones I could find that had the same concept. Just trying to find a solution.

thanks!