Plumbing Experts

[supremo]

hello bros,

i'm having trouble fixing my pipes. no matter how i try to tighten it i still get leaks around the holes where my pipes pass through. one main problem is that it is a 2.5ft deep tank and the chamber is a bit narrow so i couldn't quite reach inside. i don;t know if got special tool to use or not i tried putting epoxy putty but could only place it under and not inside cause can;t reach it.

if there are any professional guys out there that can help, please PM me you service charge. if got good samaritan out there then can PM me they're number and i'll call you

thanks

[ozy]

Did you put any washers on both sides? Putting washers will help you to screw the joints tightly. But don't over do it as it will stress the bottom of the tank. I have a leaky tank too when I was plumbing for my discus tanks. Some experts can do it without using any silicon to seal the edges. Personally I was not able to achieve that, so I still use silicon gel to seal the joints.

Hope this helps.

[Achilles Tang]

have you tried using a rubber gasket on both sides, the pressure from both sides of the piping should be enough to seal the hole.

Can you take a photo of the joint?

[supremo]

okey, i'll try to take a pic of it tonight and post.

but paiseh already, cause i put a bunch of putties

already so couldn't see the actual joints

[supremo]

eh bros and sisses,

does anybody if there is good way to remove those hardened

epoxy clay? i received a lot of advice and want to try it out.

but now.... i need to remove the clay that i so amateurly

put in hope to stop the leak ( i used Selley's Knead It). Is there

are non-amateurish way of removing it? please help

[Achilles Tang]

Epoxy will harden to an almost stone like state - it seems like there's no way to remove it unless you use a chisel and hammer now!

[Hon]

supremo,

Did you use a bulkhead ? Or you just insert a PVC pipe thru' the hole and epoxy the side to stop the leak??

[Achilles Tang]

He didn't say... so I am assuming its pipe to pipe! Need a photo to verify but it seems too late now.

[ozy]

supremo,

Did you use a bulkhead ? Or you just insert a PVC pipe thru' the hole and epoxy the side to stop the leak??

Are there people who do it this way? This method sound rather drastic to me...

[supremo]

hmm. bulk head. don;t know what it is but it's not like just pushing the pipe through. there are 2 parts, a pipe with an outside threading coming from below and a nut which i use to lock from inside the overflow chamber. a placed the putty where the pipe below the tank meets with the bottom of the tank.

sigh....i guess i ruined my tank

[BarraCudaTM]

you are missing a gasket which is supposed to between the glass inside and the screw.

[ozy]

hmm. bulk head. don;t know what it is but it's not like just pushing the pipe through. there are 2 parts, a pipe with an outside threading coming from below and a nut which i use to lock from inside the overflow chamber. a placed the putty where the pipe below the tank meets with the bottom of the tank.

sigh....i guess i ruined my tank

yup, i think that's correct. Don't worry, all is not lost yet. You are able to get the connectors out rite? If I remembered correctly, the connect with the inside thread is on top because it has a larger base to hold onto the rubber gasket.

Well for my discus tanks, even when I put in the rubber gasket, the tank is still dripping slowly, so I seal the seams with silicon gel.

[ah^siao]

add silicon la? best.. seals and dun leak anymore.. mayb u can tryin gremoving lal the expoxy tingy?

[sunny03]

i think he use those pipe that got screw thread one a male end and the other is the female end

[hoppinghippos]

selley's knead it when hardened is supposed to be like concrete I think. supremo why don't you post a pic here so everyone can help you see how to salvage the situation?

[supremo]

i think he use those pipe that got screw thread one a male end and the other is the female end

yeah bro, something like that. too bad my DC gone bonkers just when i needed it. i'll try to reach in from above to unscrew the nut this means only the epoxy is holding it up. I'll try to push the pipes down and hope the epoxy didn't stick too well too the underside of the tank.

as the illustration shows, the green is the glass, the yellow is the putty, the purple is the pvc with the outside thread going through the hole in the glass, the red is the nut (inner thread) is on the other side of the glass, the orange is where is could notice the leaks. the good thing is that the leak drops into my sump but i couldn't put the cover of the sump though.

i'm just hoping that the putty (yellow) did not stick too much to the bottom of the glass (green). so while pressure is applied from the top, a little bit of scraping between the putty and glass, gets the job done. if i manage to get it out, then i could do it the proper way, with the gasket and the tape seals and all. i'll do it tomorrow and let you guys know what happened

[ozy]

good luck.

It took me 3 tries over 1 month before I finally got my tanks to stop leaking.

What can I say...I am an idiot.

[supremo]

i managed to remove the putty, start all over again using the advise given to me (some in the open some in PM). and i'm proud to say that that leaks are gone!!!

thanks for the advise and the support