slip or threaded bulkhead

[lawdawg18]

I am moving my 150 gallon allglass aquarium. It has been moved several times (4) since I purchased it.
This will be the last move.

The bulkheads I have now are all messed up. Threads outa' whack, leaky, etc etc. I want to replace them during this move.
I currently have clear tubing plumbing everything together. I definately want to go back to PVC that I originally had.

My question is are slip fittings or threaded fittings better for the bulkheads? Pros and cons of either?


Thanks
Jason

[RealFish]

Personally I like the threaded fittings because I can take them apart and reuse them. I just purchased a used refugium and the guy used the slip bulkheads in it and glued PVC to each one of them. So now I have a bunch of bulkheads with short pieces of PVC attached to them.

[Fizz71]

I actually use slip on the dry side only because I had previous bad experiences with over-tightening one from a leak and it cracked the bulkhead rendering it useless. I've done this to ATLEAST 3 bulkheads over the years.

I have a slip on the wet side in the overflow too because my tight fit would have made it tough to spin a threaded durso. But I didn't bother gluing the durso to the bulkhead either since I really don't care if that leaks a little water..it's all wet. All my tight fitting areas in the overflow are slip and not glued so I can remove them. All dry parts are glued and I used unions for cleaning or replacing. Nothing is glued that I couldn't get a hack saw to.

My philosophy was, if I need to re-plumb I'll just buy another bulkhead and I really didn't want to risk over-tightening and cracking a bulkhead.....again.

As you can see...personal choices will vary. :)

[Agu]

I prefer threaded on the outside of a tank and slip on the inside.

I don't glue the inside fittings, just use teflon tape to make sure they're snug. That way it's easier to make changes/adjustments inside the tank.

Disclaimer, if your pump puts out a gazillion gallons/hour the slip fittings may not be a good choice.

[billdogg]

i have reused the same bulkheads for 20+ years every time i've moved and/or replumbed. they are threaded. i can't imagine tightening one enough to crack it. ever heard of plumbers paste (teflon paste)??? a little dab around the male threads, snug it down, and no leak. ever.

[PAZE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14969073#post14969073 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fizz71
I actually use slip on the dry side only because I had previous bad experiences with over-tightening one from a leak and it cracked the bulkhead rendering it useless. I've done this to ATLEAST 3 bulkheads over the years.

I have a slip on the wet side in the overflow too because my tight fit would have made it tough to spin a threaded durso. But I didn't bother gluing the durso to the bulkhead either since I really don't care if that leaks a little water..it's all wet. All my tight fitting areas in the overflow are slip and not glued so I can remove them. All dry parts are glued and I used unions for cleaning or replacing. Nothing is glued that I couldn't get a hack saw to.

My philosophy was, if I need to re-plumb I'll just buy another bulkhead and I really didn't want to risk over-tightening and cracking a bulkhead.....again.

As you can see...personal choices will vary. :)


You must be one powerful man to strip these bulk heads, there only supose to be hand tight, I've built tons of systems and have yet to strip one.
Either way its a total preference thing, I like the threaded ones, you can reuse them.

[RealFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14969094#post14969094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Agu
I prefer threaded on the outside of a tank and slip on the inside.

I don't glue the inside fittings, just use teflon tape to make sure they're snug. That way it's easier to make changes/adjustments inside the tank.

Disclaimer, if your pump puts out a gazillion gallons/hour the slip fittings may not be a good choice.

That makes some sense. Easier to disasemble if you need to do some housekeeping.

[cveverly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14969094#post14969094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Agu
I prefer threaded on the outside of a tank and slip on the inside.
I don't glue the inside fittings, just use teflon tape to make sure they're snug. That way it's easier to make changes/adjustments inside the tank.


Me too.

[Tswifty]

Slip... hands down... a thread is just another place for a leak. Save yourself the headaches. Install unions in areas where you may need to access your plumbing.

[Fizz71]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14970413#post14970413 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PAZE
You must be one powerful man to strip these bulk heads, there only supose to be hand tight, I've built tons of systems and have yet to strip one.
Either way its a total preference thing, I like the threaded ones, you can reuse them.

It actually doesn't take that much to break the smaller ones because of how thin they are on the dry side. And I am a pretty big guy so with the help of tephlon tape and leverage I can crack one by hand.