bulkhead or weld on 16 ?

[dcampbell]

I have a 52 gallon acrylic hex. about ten inches from the top is a 3/8 long hole thats about 1/16 wide, caused by a heater malfunction. the melted part is rippled about 2 1/4 inch but the actual hole is smaller. it looks boat shaped . I got the idea that I could drill a hole for a bulk head right where the hole and ripple is and get rid of it all together. run a stand pipe with a t at the top and two sections of straight pipes out of the t at water level with slots cut out for the overflow. of course I would plug the ends of the straight pipes. run the out side pipe to my sump.

Then I saw this stuff called weld-on 16.

I already bought all the pipe and bulkhead from the LFS, I even got a tile cutter for my dremel to cut the hole. I can take the stuff back If I need to .

now my question is bulkhead and overflow or weld-on 16 ?or alternative acrylic cement ?

[NanoReefWanabe]

i am anything but an acrylic expert...but if it where me and the hole wasnt in too obtrusive of a place i would put a bulkhead in it...i think acrylic becomes brittle when heated up, and it crazes and cracks over time...i would take the chunk out and at the very least plug the bulkhead if i couldnt use it...mount a frag to it and forget it..

[dcampbell]

I installed the bulk head , I now have a drilled tank that needed it anyway. I did not glue the PVC , it is just tight fitting. I am making sure I have no other leaks. One question I have is the LFS guy said do not glue the pipes in case I want to remove them, but I think I should at the very least glue the outside pipes, right ? also The inside one is setting the water level inside the tank so if it leaks it could drain my tank if it leaks ,at least to the bulk head. shouldn't I glue that one too ? Another question ,can I paint the PVC pipe with krylon before I glue them?

The bulk head is a two inch . I don't know if it matters. Any reason to install a gate valve on the sump side?

[thegrun]

You need to glue (or thread) all the exterior PVC parts or it will leak. Do add threaded unions at key locations to allow you to disassemble the piping for cleaning. I prefer to use a threaded bulkhead rather than a slip (glued) to allow you to remove it if you ever develop a leak. You need to sand off the paint at the joints before you glue them together, the project will look better if you wait and paint it after you glue it all together.

[dcampbell]

I glued the outside pipes and filled the tank with water. the bulkhead had a small drip every 15 minutes, so I used a spanner wrench to tighten one 1/8 more than hand tight. so far so good. thanks for the advice guys I will paint it afterwards.

I left the 2 inch stand pipe open at the top for now. If I use the t and straight pipes for the overflow it would take up way too much space. Do I need to put anything over the pipe end at the top ? Im afraid if I put something over it like a screen , it will clog and overflow the tank. Is a two inch pipe enough overflow for a 50 gallon ? ( I mean as in surface area to flow over)