bulkheads and diameters and stuffs
 

Hey guys, hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about here and can help.

If you have a hole drilled in a tank for the overflow and its 3 inches in diameter, is there any way to tell:

1. how big of a bulkhead you need (ie. is it just a 3 inch bulkhead?)
2. what diameter your overflow piping will be? (are you stuck with
whatever a 3 inch bulkhead offers?

Christy get ahold of Mr Alberta AKA Harvey he knows the sizes for you, i ,but im a little unsure of the bulkhead sizes. so i wont add anything..

Christy a 3" hole is for a 2" bulkhead.

+1

A 2" bulkhead will give you a 2" drain pipe. If that's too big you can always add a reducer to it.

Thanks guys! :biggrin:

I figured as much. The bulkhead I have now seemed rather large for a 1-1/4" pipe, I can see theres a reducer on it but its all been glued together so I can't get it apart to see whats going on.

With the sch80 bulkheads I always use both 1.5" and 2" bulkheads require 3" holes.

Also Christy, if you look at the bulkheads on J&L's they tell you what size hole you need for theres, so you can always use that as a referance.
Steve

They don't sell the *really* good ones. As spshelps mentioned, Schedule 80 !! Sure the cheapo black ones get the job done, but hand-in-hand compared to a schedule 80 you know you will have peace of mind with sch80 bulkheads

Glass-holes.com are also really good for info and they have decent prices too. I've ordered hole saws and bulkheads from them in the past.

Sched 80 is so overkill for this, completely a waste. Get a normal "cheapo" and buy an extra frag with the money you saved!

Well, it's comforting to know that if you ever decide to do a 20' tall columnar tank to follow your staircase from the basement to the upperfloors, what size hole you'll need for the bottom bulkheads. :)

(I have seen tanks like this BTW .. I think it was a restaurant chain in the U.S. called "The Aquarium". :lol:)

I agree completely they are overkill, but for $22 versus $13, well worth the peace of mind after seeing the results of a failed bulkhead. Chances are it was from over tightening, but none the less, any bulkhead can fail.

After dealing with cracked bulkheads, both in sch40 & sch80, I will now only use Hayward Sch80s. I'd recommend the same for anyone, and I believey you can get them from Bulk Reef Supply. (they also list hole sizes for each type)

How do people crack bulkheads?? I've never personally seen one crack, either during install or afterwards. I guess to each their own, but most of my plumbing isn't even sch 40.

+1 .. how exactly do you crack a bulkhead?? Are people overtightening these things ten times over?? You realize that amount of tension is bad for the glass too right? ... Hand tighten and then maybe a 1/4 turn with a wrench after that. If it's still leaking, something is wrong. If you're really paranoid, put a little silicone down. Shouldn't have to be anything more than that.

I have a spare from my old 90 somewhere in my "extra parts bin". I remember it costing a small fortune so hopefully it is the better quality one, although I wouldn't be surprised if it was the cheapo.

if some one cracks a bulkhead that is not the fault of the bulkhead, but rather the instalation. you either tightened it way way to much , in which case your lucky the glass didn't break or you tried to force plumbing which placed a strain on the bulkhead, and again your lucky the glass didn't break.

take a look at the PSI rating for Sched 40 and let me know if you have anything on your fishtank that even comes close to 1/4 of its rating.

Sched 80 is a waist of money and is bulky , cumbersome and ugly, I used sched 80 on my old tank and never will use them again if only for the physical size of area clear they need to be able to tighten them.

Steve

bulkheads
 

3inch hole 2inch bulkhead that means 2 inch hole in overflow i would put 1inch return from pump dont forget 1 inch check valve and 1 inch ball valve to controlyour return pressure got any ? pm me i got 2000gal running 22 tanks lots of work lol.

You know how these fish stories spread...

:twised:

All the cracked bulkheads I've dealt with have cracked right on the mold seams. My guess is it was a shotty batch. The main failure cause for these was external pump vibration. (I really had to dampen this down with spaflex and rubber)

Hmmm, interesting. It broke even with spaflex? I've always used spaflex or vinyl hose to dampen the vibrations from the pump but I was trying to protect the glass itself of the sump wall, not the bulkhead.

I've repaired quite a few tanks with damaged bulkheads. Sometimes cracked, cross threaded or just leaking. Never seen any problems with the good sch80s, Sch40s are good to but those cheap sch20 black ones are complete junk. Threads are too fine, not reverse threaded, think brittle plastic, and tiny thin gaskets. You're just asking for trouble using those and they are usually the ones I'm always fixing.

The money you save is peanuts compared to the rest of the setup, if you use cheap bulkheads might as well use thinner glass to and skip the home insurance. Especially on a close loop where replacing a bulkhead means draining the tank.