I feel kind of stupid asking this but I have never used a slip x slip bulkhead before. Do you need to glue the pvc to the bulkhead on the pipe that is inside the overflow or just the piece that slips in under the tank? I have everything dry fitted and ready to glue and then I couldn’t figure out the answer. If you do put glue on both sides how would you ever remove the pipe without cutting it? My guess is you can’t.
Ellen
i only did the underside, its not going to leak on the inside of the overflow
Ellen is correct, just do the underside. When I buy new bulkheads now, I get the ones with the threads on both sides. This way it can always come apart if need be.
[quote=“TimH07, post:2, topic:2064”]
i only did the underside, its not going to leak on the inside of the overflow[/quote]
Thats was what I was thinking, but I wanted to make sure.
[quote=“houndsbayman, post:3, topic:2064”]
Ellen is correct, just do the underside. When I buy new bulkheads now, I get the ones with the threads on both sides. This way it can always come apart if need be.[/quote]
Thats what I have always used in the past, but this tank came with these so I wasn’t sure. Plumbing is definitely not my favorite thing to do. I have seen some photos of very elaborate and well planned setups where the plumbing looks so professional. I am always thinking I wish mine looked like that…LOL…
Ellen, are you setting up a new tank?
John
[quote=“houndsbayman, post:5, topic:2064”]
Ellen, are you setting up a new tank?
John[/quote]
Yeah. I got a 24" x 24" x 18" 3 sided starfire rimless. I want to put some lps and clams in this tanks and have a bit slower flow for them. I have it set up low enough so that it can be viewed from the top. I am hoping to have freshwater in it this afternoon for the leak test.
Thanks for the plumbing help guys.
HOLY CRAP! sounds nice!!
Your welcome. Well good luck with the new setup, seeing your other tank, I know your new tank will look awesome.
Typed a long response and my log in timed out at work. Errr.
Once you glue the pieces together they are one solid piece. I personally avoid threaded parts whenever possible. I would rather shooting around my electrical lines and over the floor of my rented home be one solid piece of plastic from tank to tank. There are other ways to save money in the aquarium. For $4-5 replace the bulk head each time and keep the insurance of solid plumbing.
Ellen next time you are planning to connect a tank give me a little heads up notice and I’ll lend a hand. I have plenty of experience there.
… believe me, ellen has been setting up tanks since a few of us were in diapers. not to start a HJack here, but r u aware that A LOT of extremely high pressure pipes r simply threaded together?? i think if a glue fitting fails (which is just as likely) repair is gonna be 100x harder than if u r having an issue with threads. besides, the thread fittings r manufactured to hold under hundreds of psi. noones aquarium is gonna come anywhere near testing the limits of these.
just my 2 pennies…
p.s. swapping out bulkheads is gonna be a huge amount harder than unthreading a piece of plumbing. all the work can be done with the tank or sump still full depending on which pipe u r changing. a bulkhead? no way
[quote=“Gordonious, post:9, topic:2064”]
Typed a long response and my log in timed out at work. Errr.
Once you glue the pieces together they are one solid piece. I personally avoid threaded parts whenever possible. I would rather shooting around my electrical lines and over the floor of my rented home be one solid piece of plastic from tank to tank. There are other ways to save money in the aquarium. For $4-5 replace the bulk head each time and keep the insurance of solid plumbing.
Ellen next time you are planning to connect a tank give me a little heads up notice and I’ll lend a hand. I have plenty of experience there. [/quote]
Thanks for the offer Jon and I will keep that in mind next time. I put unions in key places so that I could modify my plumbing later. The only thing I won’t be able to modify is the short length of pipe going into the bulkhead.
[quote author=fishguy9 link=topic=2312.msg25588#msg25588 date=1252347686]
… believe me, ellen has been setting up tanks since a few of us were in diapers. not to start a HJack here, but r u aware that A LOT of extremely high pressure pipes r simply threaded together?? i think if a glue fitting fails (which is just as likely) repair is gonna be 100x harder than if u r having an issue with threads. besides, the thread fittings r manufactured to hold under hundreds of psi. noones aquarium is gonna come anywhere near testing the limits of these.
You are right I have had an aquarium of some type running since I was in high school. However, plumbing sumps has never been a favorite thing for me to do and I have a very limited ability in that respect. I defer to the experts on this list… Give me a pair of discus and I can get them to breed, but give me some pvc and I will look at you like "what you want me to plumb this??? LOL…
[quote=“TimH07, post:7, topic:2064”]
HOLY CRAP! sounds nice!!
[/quote]
Thanks all. I will try and get some pics up tonight or tomorrow. I am just about to fill her up and test my plumbing job for leaks. Wish me luck!
If done right threads work just fine 100% AOK
[quote=“fishguy9, post:10, topic:2064”]
i think if a glue fitting fails (which is just as likely)[/quote]
when you “glue” pvc its not like glue, you chemical weld the pipes together, the only way they could fail is if you missed a spot with the “glue”, you should always wipe the excess cement round the rim of the joint to ensure no missed areas.
ok… still not 100% fail proof. nothing is. that was my point
ok.... still not 100% fail proof. nothing is. that was my point
+1 anything can fail, even glued pvc.
:TWOCENTS i think threaded pieces are less likely to fail than glued. the chemical bond created by pvc cement can break apart over time. ask any plumber. with the exception of a threaded union, a threaded piece can not come undone overtime without the entire pipe its glued to spinning freely and if that happens you have more important problems. not that my help was aksed for, but ive been doing this for a long time and i am one of those guys with the “very elaborate and well planned setups” Ill give a couple of pointers for the problems i have seen when helping a lot of you guys over the years with installing and troubleshooting your plumbing.
Do not use teflon tape for threaded unions. this can lead to a failure. the seal comes from the o-ring, not the threads.
Use a tiny dab of lok-tite on your threaded unions. this will keep them from vibrating loose when attached to pumps where they are used most.
A little lubricant on all o-rings will make them last longer and reduce the chance of a leak due to a dried and cracked o-ring.
When using non-union threaded pieces use the heavy duty tape instead of the white. its usuallly pink and only a little more money.
When glueing slip connectors use a liberal amount, insert the pipe quickly and rotate it as you seat the pipe and wipe any excess away after the piece is bonded.
Make sure that when cutting you pipe that the cut is flush(hard with hand tools, easy with chop/miter saw) and all filings and debris is cleard away. This filings will create a poor bond.
Most PVC connector have a lip on the inside that is designed to have the pipe sit flush with. Make sure when you gluing the pipe to push it all the way agains this lip.
Ellen - not only do you not want to glue the durso pipe in the overflow to the bulkhead, but you probably dont want to thread it either. ive actually never seen an overflow kit that came with a bulkhead threaded for durso side. pressure fitting them is more than sufficient and makes it real easy to completely drain the overflow only if you need to for maintenance purposes.
Thanks for your input Shawn. When I get ready to plumb my dream tank I know who to bribe for help…LOL…
Based on what you have said below I did everything correctly, I even used the pink tape for the two threaded connections in my setup ;D.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:16, topic:2064”]
ok.... still not 100% fail proof. nothing is. that was my point
+1 anything can fail, even glued pvc.
:TWOCENTS i think threaded pieces are less likely to fail than glued. the chemical bond created by pvc cement can break apart over time. ask any plumber. with the exception of a threaded union, a threaded piece can not come undone overtime without the entire pipe its glued to spinning freely and if that happens you have more important problems. not that my help was aksed for, but ive been doing this for a long time and i am one of those guys with the “very elaborate and well planned setups” Ill give a couple of pointers for the problems i have seen when helping a lot of you guys over the years with installing and troubleshooting your plumbing.
Do not use teflon tape for threaded unions. this can lead to a failure. the seal comes from the o-ring, not the threads.
Use a tiny dab of lok-tite on your threaded unions. this will keep them from vibrating loose when attached to pumps where they are used most.
A little lubricant on all o-rings will make them last longer and reduce the chance of a leak due to a dried and cracked o-ring.
When using non-union threaded pieces use the heavy duty tape instead of the white. its usuallly pink and only a little more money.
When glueing slip connectors use a liberal amount, insert the pipe quickly and rotate it as you seat the pipe and wipe any excess away after the piece is bonded.
Make sure that when cutting you pipe that the cut is flush(hard with hand tools, easy with chop/miter saw) and all filings and debris is cleard away. This filings will create a poor bond.
Most PVC connector have a lip on the inside that is designed to have the pipe sit flush with. Make sure when you gluing the pipe to push it all the way agains this lip.
Ellen - not only do you not want to glue the durso pipe in the overflow to the bulkhead, but you probably dont want to thread it either. ive actually never seen an overflow kit that came with a bulkhead threaded for durso side. pressure fitting them is more than sufficient and makes it real easy to completely drain the overflow only if you need to for maintenance purposes.[/quote]
i look foward to seeing this project 
I forgot to add that it passed the freshwater test PBJ!
Now I just need to get er filled up with saltwater and toss the LR in.
Great now get it filled up and let see some pics YahoO ;D