Need help asap red sea tank

[pizzaguy]

So I picked up the red sea reefer 450 that was on here recently. Trying to setup today and it keeps leaking at the bulkhead. So after researching it appears that there are no nuts on the bulkhead assembly to pull the bulkheads tight so it had to be leaking. I know plenty of people have had tanks show up cracked and they send replacements. Hoping I can find someone who might have one laying around with the 3 bulkhead nuts on it. It doesn't appear you can but them and without those nuts I can't do anything. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. Attached some pics to show the nuts are missing

 

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[DaJMasta]

Took a look under my e170 and your is definitely missing the nuts.  Looks like someone used the tank with a sump and didn't replace them afterward.

It's tough to get measurements off it directly, but if you look into what fittings should fit to it in the manual you should be able to get a thread size/pipe diameter/etc. and it may be metric given that Red Sea is an EU based company (if I remember right).

Anyone with an E series tank that converted to a sump should have them spare if they can find them, but if you can figure out the thread size, you can likely get replacement nylon nuts or similar at a hardware store.  If you can get the measurements and thread type, there's also the chance to 3d print replacements - since the nut just tightens the rubber gasket on the other side, it doesn't have to be fully waterproof in itself, it just has to be plastic and has to stay tight.

[pizzaguy]

There definitely metric which is why I'm in a bad situation

I dont believe they sell these as replacement parts. I know people recieve cracked tanks often and red sea sends a replacement and you trash the old tank. Hoping to find something like that where I could get the fittings. Aside from that not sure what options I have.

There is absolutely no way this didn't leak for previous owner.

[DaJMasta]

Even if you can't buy them, if you can ID the type of threads you at least have a chance of finding a large enough nut for it to work - or print one, as I mentioned.  With some basic dimensions and the type of thread, I could probably have a model made and three printed in a few hours, and given the coarse threads used, it should fit pretty smoothly.

Now I wouldn't have any trouble trusting them given the application, but I know not everyone has the experience with printed parts to feel the same way.  This image is an M30x3.5 nut I designed and printed for a different project, while probably too wide a collar for your application (and maybe too wide an opening?), I can say from experience that it does print durably.

Edited May 30, 2021 by DaJMasta

[pizzaguy]

I've tried to find the bulkhead size with no luck

[AlanM]

Can you completely swap the bulkheads for normal sized non-metric ones?   Even if the glass holes aren't exactly the right size the rubber gaskets tend to be pretty wide so there's some slop in the hole size.  It's possible that BRK or Capital may have some?  I know Manassas isn't exactly next door to you, though.

 

The threads on those bulkheads seem really short compared to most bulkheads I've seen.  I'm surprised that red sea supplies them like that.

[pizzaguy]

Alan there bulkhead system is weird. Its like a sandwich plate with 3 bulkheads. So in essence of one breaks you have to replace whole thing. But I dont even thing thats available 

[AlanM]

OK.  I've never seen it, and I know you're handy so I won't suggest things that seem obvious to me like taking a dremel to it to make it normal, heh.

 

I've admired the design of the red sea tanks in the past, though, and think it's pretty short sighted of them to make something totally different from everything else for which no replacement parts can be obtained.

 

 

[pizzaguy]

I think I found them

 There ordered so we will see