RDWC setup

Never mind. I figured out what you meant. You must have threaded bulkheads, as apposed to slip. If it were me, I'd just weld the pvc to the bulkheads. But silicon should do the trick. But you shouldn't need any on the bulkhead itself. The gasket seals the wall really well.

Here is the pics the one with my finger was the one with the leak

Yeah I have screw in bulk heads, I thought I bought the slip but I’ll make do. I reapplied the silicone just now to ensure a water proof floor. I bought two big tubes of silicone and I’m pretty positive that will hold. I first tried applying the silicone when it was dripping and it seeped through. Need to wait a couple more hours before I try and fill them up again. If this doesn’t work I’m going to have to weld.

Side note it really sucks having to attach files one at a time. Maybe it is becuase I’m on mobile and my internet sucks but that took me like 30 min

TIMtoKILL said:

Yeah I have screw in bulk heads, I thought I bought the slip but I’ll make do. I reapplied the silicone just now to ensure a water proof floor. I bought two big tubes of silicone and I’m pretty positive that will hold. I first tried applying the silicone when it was dripping and it seeped through. Need to wait a couple more hours before I try and fill them up again. If this doesn’t work I’m going to have to weld.

Side note it really sucks having to attach files one at a time. Maybe it is becuase I’m on mobile and my internet sucks but that took me like 30 min

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It should hold tight when cured.

Fingers crossed man. I applied enough to not feel any plastic around the fitting or the bulkhead. It’s a goopy mess but better homes and gardens is not showing up.This is some intro to plumbing if I’ve ever seen it. Pvc is litterly adult legos.

Here is a closer picture what one of the bulkheads look like. The other ones are pretty similar. I would be shocked if I got any leaks now.

To me it looks like you did not tighten that bulkhead enough. there shouldnt be a gap there to fill with silicone, everything should be tightly compressed.
Hand tight was not enough for mine, I had a few small leaks and had to use a pipe wrench to tighten my nuts down a little more.

fragileassassin said:

To me it looks like you did not tighten that bulkhead enough. there shouldnt be a gap there to fill with silicone, everything should be tightly compressed.
Hand tight was not enough for mine, I had a few small leaks and had to use a pipe wrench to tighten my nuts down a little more.

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That’s what I thought but the one thats pictured had no problems fully submerged. It’s also fully tightened with my channel locks. Also the leak that I did have came from the threading which is why every single one of my bulk heads is siliconed.

I also put an excessive amount the gap that you see is Less than a cm.

So ran the system with the pump. Becuase I went too 2 inch pipe there is not enough pressure to get water to run up my water fall line. If I put my hands over the two inch pipes the water runs up the lines with no issue.

Problem is that the bulkhead isn’t an exact two inch fitting on both sides. I need to decrease pressure going through my main lines so I can create the waterfall effect.

TIMtoKILL said:

So ran the system with the pump. Becuase I went too 2 inch pipe there is not enough pressure to get water to run up my water fall line. If I put my hands over the two inch pipes the water runs up the lines with no issue.

Problem is that the bulkhead isn’t an exact two inch fitting on both sides. I need to decrease pressure going through my main lines so I can create the waterfall effect.

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You could possibly put another ball valve after the line you want it to go up. Closing off the valve some should let you meter the water pressure up top to an extent.
Cheapest solution I can think of.

fragileassassin said:

You could possibly put another ball valve after the line you want it to go up. Closing off the valve some should let you meter the water pressure up top to an extent.
Cheapest solution I can think of.

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The other end of my bulkheads are slip. I’m going to go get a reducer and slip it in there. I’ll seal it with some aquarium safe silicone so it does not eject out of the pipe under pressure. When cupping the holes. I would use pvc weld but I’m unsure if that’s safe for the plants. Here is a pic of the other side of a bulk head. I bought an extra one as a just in case.

Ahh yeah that should work too. Just play around with different sizes and see what works

fragileassassin said:

Ahh yeah that should work too. Just play around with different sizes and see what works

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im Going to. I thought about just capping them all together and have all my water go through my waterfalls. I just don’t know if the seal on the bulk head could handle that much pressure. When I held the bulkheads closed with my hands a small leak sprung from one of the bulk heads. I put more silicone on it but also got some jbweld plastic epoxy that I’m going to put around the silicone to ensure that there will be no leaks. I’ve decided I would rather have a completely leak proof seal than be able to change my design around. As soon as I get this under control I’m going to start the seeds. Hopefully before the weekend. My lights will be at my place sometime by next week so everything is starting to come together.

Going to start my dry run up now. I got both .75 and .5 inch reducers. Also applied jb plastic weld so my intake is rock solid. Hoping everything works tonight!

I’m stuck man. I can’t seem to seal these bulkheads while the pump is on. They are fine completely submerged but under pressure there are 2 that have the slowest drop I’ve ever seen. I have tried three different types of glue to hold and nothing. I’m almost at the point of ordering new bulk heads and starting over. I would only need 3 2 inch ones and I could run 1inch for the intake so I can get pressure up to the water falls. I have amazon prime so I can get two day shipping for free. This is so frustrating guys any tips would be appreciated or links to good bulk heads with prime.

So what is cemented together so it cant be taken apart? and is it leaking between the box and the bulkhead or the bulkhead and the pipe going into it?
It'll be annoying, but you should be able to peel all of the silicone off as it doesnt stick to plastic very well. Which is why its difficult to stop an active leak with it. Then you could start fresh and make sure everything is sealed up and tight.
I put a small bead of silicone around the inside of each side of my fittings, like a second washer kinda, and tightened the hell out of them.
Also, how close to your bulkhead size was your hole? I made my holes undersized to I had to more or less thread it into the box first. If your holes had big gaps around the bulkhead, theyll be difficult to seal.

fragileassassin said:

So what is cemented together so it cant be taken apart? and is it leaking between the box and the bulkhead or the bulkhead and the pipe going into it?
It'll be annoying, but you should be able to peel all of the silicone off as it doesnt stick to plastic very well. Which is why its difficult to stop an active leak with it.

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It seems like they are both leaking between the fitting and the bulkhead I seen these and could get them by Saturday. Lights won’t be here till next week anyway. Have you had any experience with uniseals?

https://www.amazon.com/UNISEAL-Flexible-Tank-Adapter-Bulkhead/dp/B00FAF3NLS?crid=31FONGSNMS6BG&keywords=bulkhead+fitting+2+inch&qid=1533787636&sprefix=bulkhead&sr=8-24&ref=mp_s_a_1_24

TIMtoKILL said:

It seems like they are both leaking between the fitting and the bulkhead I seen these and could get them by Saturday. Lights won’t be here till next week anyway. Have you had any experience with uniseals?

https://www.amazon.com/UNISEAL-Flexible-Tank-Adapter-Bulkhead/dp/B00FAF3NLS?crid=31FONGSNMS6BG&keywords=bulkhead+fitting+2+inch&qid=1533787636&sprefix=bulkhead&sr=8-24&ref=mp_s_a_1_24

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Some people seem to love them, some seem to hate them. If you do them right theyre good.
But I am noticing now, do you have the rubber seal washers on both sides of your bulkheads? Ive found that if you only have 1 washer to use, they work better on the inside.

I have one washer man. I was doing research on research before I started this project. I bought the threaded bulkheads by mistake and tried to make do. Water is such a finicky little bitch.