So two questions:

1) When people recommend a 1.5" hole for draining and 3/4" holes for returns, is that the size of the inner hollow part of the bulkhead or the size of the hole I would drill?

2) I know I want the inner portion (part that would be inside the tank) to be threaded. What are the benefits of slip vs threaded for the outer portion of the bulkhead? I plan on using PVC for my plumbing so would I want slip or threaded for my bulkheads?

Thanks!! Any and all information you have would be awesome!!

Kylie

it is the diameter of the pipe itself. as far as slip or threaded, i prefer threaded plumbing over slip, simple reason is the slip is glued solid and if you have a problem your going to have to do some cutting and splicing, with threaded you can simply grab a wrench.

That makes sense

Ok, I have to ask perhaps a stupid and picky question. When you say the diameter of the pipe itself, is it the diameter including the plastic its made of or the diameter of the hole the water flows through? You may have already tried to answer this, but I'm still really new to all this, and I'm about to order my bulkheads so I want to make sure I get the correct ones.

Thanks!!

Also, do you need those weird loc line pliers to put loc line together or is it possible just with your hands?

okay kylie i just called menards because i didnt want to give you bad info, it is the outside diameter, not the inside. so basically you will measure from outside to outside.

a crecent wrench will do fine. you can use your hands but after you tighten it up as much as you can, a 1/4 turn with a wrench cant hurt.

ok. Thanks!!

You can get by without the loc-line pliers, your'e just gonna have to lean into it a bit. They snap together pretty hard but it can be done

Posted By Kylie on 03/09/2010 09:13 PM
Also, do you need those weird loc line pliers to put loc line together or is it possible just with your hands?

Put them in hot water and then try to put them together.  Also I dont know what he means by threaded piping.  But you will need to proablly glue some of the piping fot the tank.  But you will want to get threaded bulkheads, so you can just tighten them, or if you want to move the tank you can, I think thats what he ment.  Gluing PVC is proablly the easiest thing ever.

Loc line pliars: not needed.

And sorry mthomp but Menards gave you bad info, it's the inside dimensions that are the 1" and 3/4". The inside dimension of a 1" pvc is 1", the outside is 1 1/4".

I recommend staying away from bulkheads and getting Uniseal Slip Fittings. They are really easy to install, just put them in the hole and shove the pvc through it and it expands to seal up the hole. They are about the same price as bulkheads too. They are also nice because they help prevent vibrations in the plumbing. They are rubber and absorb a lot of the shock. You can always shove the pvc in a little farther or pull it out more after it's installed. I highly recommend these. HERE IS THE LINK TO THE UNISEALS.

HERE is another great site with slip fittings(along with hole size chart), bulkheads, and loc line fittings.

Good luck

-Adam

I would just go to Theisen's and buy bulkheads there. I know I have made a couple responses regarding that recently (although I don't think any were a response to Kylie's thread(s) ). They sell sch80 but I believe only ThreadxThread. Price are cheaper than the above link as well.

Adam those are kinda cool, are you using those? Bela I don't know if there is a Theisens out that way, but if not bulkreefsupply.com, ships super fast, and has awesome prices.

Posted By Matt on 03/10/2010 02:27 AM
Adam those are kinda cool, are you using those?

Always. I used to work at a plastic manufacturing plant back home before I moved for school and we had every size bulkhead available. My brother still works there so I can still get free bulkheads if I needed them, but I would rather pay the money for these slip fittings than get free bulkheads any day.

I have never heard of people really using uniseals on tanks or sumps and don't really see an advantage to them over bulkheads. I have never had a problem with vibration in any of my plumbing either. Personally I like the idea of having a hard plastic fitting then a soft rubber piece holding a bunch of saltwater and thousands of dollars in livestock. Just my .02 cents

Thanks for all the info. I think what mthomp was trying to say earlier is that with a thread x thread, I can easily screw on and off my plumbing but with a slip I would have to glue and unglue, which may not be difficult but would probably be more difficult than simply unscrewing, making threaded more convinient.

I agree with the bulkreefsupply idea. I did a lot of searching around and they had by far, the cheapest prices on bulkheads and locline. Thanks for all the help and I'm sorry for any confusion. I did go with the thread x thread bulkheads based on what you guys suggested. We'll find out soon enough how that works out

Thanks,

Kylie

Ya threaded is the way to go if you want to ever re-use them. I believe all mine currently are threaded.

How precise does the hole in the glass have to match the outer dimensions of my bulkheads? I'm curious because I may be able to have my tank drilled before my bulkheads arrive in the mail. In that case, I would use the dimensions given in the description of the item to tell Hung what size holes to cut. If for some reason, those measurements are slightly off, is that ok? How much of a difference is ok for the hole and bulkhead?

Hung should know what hole saw to use is my guess, I have heard he has drilled quite a few tanks. Just tell him what size bulkhead you are using, I'm guess that you are using a 1 inch pipe so he will need to drill it with a 1 1/2 inch hole saw because to get close to their measurement you would need something like a 1 2/3 which isn't made. It says for the uniseals to use a 1.75/44mm hole saw, which should be the same for a normal bulkhead.

That makes sense that they will be slightly off because the drills only come in certain sizes. I'm a little confused on your measurements though.. If it asks for a 1 2/3" hole.. how would a 1 1/2" hole saw work? Wouldn't that be too small? So, for examply, the bulkheads I ordered are two 3/4" for on either end of the tank as returns and a 1 1/2" for the drain. The 3/4" bulkheads require a 1.33" hole.. so would a 1.5" hole (which I assume is a drill size) work for those? And if my 1.5" bulkhead needs 2.32", would a 2.5" hole work? I'm sure Hung would know what to do without me knowing but I like to know whats happening. Sorry for all the questions!

bulk reef supply website for holesaws/bulkheads can give you a pretty good idea what size holesaw would be needed. The holesaws come in almost any size metric or english

Yes, I did find that and it helped a lot. I just picked up my tank from being drilled this afternoon, and I would have my bulkheads already but we missed the UPS guy this morning. Thanks!