Drain tank again??

[jacksammoms-tank]

Amuze has me worried...

 

"Lol. I wish Ozzie was still there...

Anyway, since you already put silicone on it, you're going to have to drain it, scrape the silicone off the tank and use a new bulkhead to get a flat seal. Make sure both the tank and bulkhead are clean. Also, hand tighten and then 1/4 turn with bulkhead or plumbing wrench.

 

Don't use silicone or grease on a bulkhead."

Any other input? The leak is gone. I put silicone grease from dive shop on the gasket.I REALLY do NOT want to drain it again. But if I need to, I will.

 

Of course, I have to tend to my 2 out of 3 sick kids first. Mantra in my head, "Kids come before fish. Kids come before fish." LOL!

Thanks, Toni

[Jon Lazar]

Good for you for wanting to do things correctly from the start, but you don't have to drain your tank. Especially because the bulkhead is no longer leaking.

 

Silicone grease is fine for rubber materials like gaskets and o-rings. It preserves the rubber from drying out and then shrinking or cracking over time.

 

Silicone sealant really shouldn't be used to seal bulkheads IMO. If the bulkhead and gasket alone don't create a good seal, something else is wrong and using silicone sealant is just putting a band-aid on the problem.

[flooddc]

"If it not broken, don't fix it". Just my personal thought!

Another thing I noticed with new bulkheads these days is that they are cheaply made (aka Chinese made). (had to slammed the land that gave birth to my ancestors, sorry!, but it is what it is.)

The plastic quality is not there anymore. So when tighten them, they do not provide a strong clamp to the gasket (IMO).

On the other hand if you really bother by it, then of course, redo it.

As a personal preference, I usually put a thin layer of silicone on all bulkheads.

[Origami]

Silicone grease is absolutely fine. (In fact, Glass-Holes actually recommends greasing the gaskets on their overflows.) The thing you have to look out for when you use it is that the flat gasket does not bulge and slip out from under the flange when you tighten up the bulkhead nut. This is normally not a problem unless you're using a wrench which will make it easy to overtighten. BUT silicone grease is NOT REQUIRED for proper bulkhead installation. It's unlikely that you would have a gasket-slipping problem if you did not lubricate the gasket, though. Thus, the common advice is install it clean - that is, no lube.

 

I NEVER use silicone sealant during a bulkhead installation, though. If it's not leaking, I might not do anything. If it is leaking, I would remove the bulkhead and do a clean install using another bulkhead.

 

It's important to make sure that the flange, gasket, and the tank surface that the gasket will contact is flat and clean, and that the hole is properly sized for the bulkhead. Any debris on the surfaces could prevent a good seal and result in a leak.

[Amuze]

Lol. Didn't mean to worry. If its not leaking anymore, no need to drain it. Just leave it be.

[Steve175]

Yep: I used silicone grease on every single bulkhead I installed. Let it be.