Leak!!!!!!

I hear you guys, but I have installed a dozen or so bulkheads in aquariums & countless in marine applications with the method & have NEVER had one fail yet. The silicone will not allow the bulkhead to loosen up when doing maint or replacing hoses or piping. Thus increasing the chances of cracking the glass, especially on thin glassed tanks (DIY). By siliconing the bulkhead, I KNOW it's not going to leak & it adds strength to that area.. Just my practice... ;D

 

How does it at strength to that area? As long as you dont pull on the bulkhead you will not break the glass.

 

For example on Meekel's 54gal corner tank. The tank is drilled on the back bottom corner. There is very little left of stucture after the two there are two holes there. It's relying on the bulkheads to complete that structure.

Now, each bulkhead is siliconed on both sides of it into the glass. This will increase it's strength, by not allowing the bulkhead to come loose. On DIY drilled tanks, this is even more important, since the glass is even weaker after drilling & the glass was not mfg with the drilled holes already in place.

 

Honestly, this makes no sense to me and seems like some sort of hopeful reasoning as to why you need to silicone the bulkhead in.

 

I feel your thinking is flawed, silicone adds no strength, in fact it acts as a cushion possibly taking away from strength. You lost the ridgidity the gasket to glass would have provided and allowed a thin cushion of flexible material.
It may sound good to you but makes no sense to the rest of us.

 

Say what? Out for a little trolling? or perhaps English just isn't your primary language? Or just some kind of neural malfunction? I'm happy to help you interpret what I wrote though. The only place I seem to have contradicted you was with regards to the leak location, which you admitted you misunderstood, "where the leak was coming from".... Hint: I made it easy, just match the colored text


Meekel1 said:

I said:

 

That is like not adding Loctite to bolts, even though they have washers. So, you're telling me that bulkheads don't get exposed to vibrations day in & out? So, the added silicone offers no protections?

Ok, silicone adds no strength? Really, so our tanks are magically being held together? Have you ever tried to remove silicone off of glass without a razor? It's pretty much impossible..

 

A properly installed bulkhead will not loosen due to vibrations.

You are comparing two different things.

This is getting pretty mch hopeless. Believe what you want to and i will believe what i want to.

 

We can agree to disagree buddy... I'm just speaking from my experiences. This isn't a new practice, other seasoned folks in this hobby have done for years... I'm not even stressed about it my friend..

 

I would say with 37+ years in the water industry and 30 years in the aquatics hobby I probably have you beat as far as bulkheads and sealing joints.
Silicone is never warranted. If you think you need it then you have other problems. A properly installed bulkhead in a properly drilled hole will never leak period, plain and simple. Silicone does no tadd anything other than a warm fuzzy feeling.