Water test on my new setup (slow drip from overflow into return lines)

Dock Ellis · Nov 29, 2014

Hello all,

Love the forum. I'm new to the reefing game and am going through the process of my first setup.

My setup is a 120 gal display with a single overflow box with 4 holes (2 return, 2 drain), draining to a refugium. I've gotten to the water test and am following the guidelines in the sticky post about setting up a reef aquarium. I've put a couple of inches of water into my overflow box and have noticed a slow drip into both of the return lines (about one drop every 2 seconds or so). Is this cause for concern? I'm guessing it is because I didn't glue the PVC into the bulkheads for the returns. Not sure if I need to drain it again and glue or if I can proceed.

Thanks in advance.

phillrodrigo · Nov 29, 2014

If there not glued then glue them. They really should hold water even not glued. Are you saying it's dripping out between the bulkhead and the pipe that goes into it. Once you glue it will seal it

Dock Ellis · Nov 29, 2014

Hey Phill, thanks for the response. The water is dripping down inside the tubing that is set up for the return pump and ending up in that section of the refugium. After I made that post I actually also got a leak on the outside of the bulkhead on one of the returns so I'm going to add some Teflon tape, screw it in tighter, and glue the PVC in the backflow into the bulkhead. Hopefully that will solve things.