Leaking bulkhead

[LorenK]

I'm plumbing my 180 and I can't get the bulkhead for the overflow to stop leaking. Glass is clean on both sides. The gasket is on the inside of the tank. I hand tightened as tight as it will go.

I'm tempted to give it a small turn with a wrench.

Any suggestions?

 

[the captive reef]

Hello,

I would not use the gasket and use silicon (make sure it is 100% silicon Home depot has it,if you are doing a black back on the tank I would get Black silicon,also at HD) instead. Just remove the gasket and put a ring of silicon around the lip on the bulkhead. Then feed the bulkhead through the hole and put the ring on the back and tighten by hand.

Let it dry for 24 hours and then you have a watertight seal. I have done this on every tank I have set up and every tank I have owned for over 10 years and have NEVER had any problems. I do not like the gaskets, I find them unreliable.

hope this helps,

mike

 

[fade2black]

Are you putting the gasket on the flange side or the nut side? It should be on the flange side.

 

[ficklefins]

I have had a leak on my tank for the past few days and I was wondering if it was because my bulkhead came with two gaskets. I will remove the gasket on the nut side to see if it helps. Thank you for starting this thread.

 

[FateX8]

the gasket should always be on the inside of the tank, doesnt matter which side the flange and the nut is on
i tried both ways and it only leaks if gasket is on outside
before i corrected the problem i was thinking about using some silicon grease on the gasket but then i put it the correct way and used a wrench to tighten it 1/4 turn after hand tightened and all is well

 

[chadfarmer]

I'm plumbing my 180 and I can't get the bulkhead for the overflow to stop leaking. Glass is clean on both sides. The gasket is on the inside of the tank. I hand tightened as tight as it will go.

I'm tempted to give it a small turn with a wrench.

Any suggestions?

is your plumbing at a 90 degree angle and not putting the bulk head in a bind?

give is a tighting with a wrench

 

[ficklefins]

I just fixed my leaky bulkhead issue so let me give you another suggestion to the ones above.

My problem was that my gasket was reversed from what it was supposed to be. There actually is a flange side (flat) vs tank wall side (two ridges). Check to make sure that the side with two ridges is up against the tank wall. When I flipped the reversed the flange it fixed my leak issue!

 

[LorenK]

It's good now.

My gasket is smooth on both sides. I have some that are ridged, but not on this bulkhead.

I put a ring of DAP around the gasket then hand tightened the nut. Filled it this morning and it looks okay so far.

I'm going to do that to the other bulkheads as well. Should be fun. Good thing I put some disconnects in the plumbing.