Overflow box leaking

Pdfcrazy · 07/02/2015, 11:26 PM

So....new to forum, not to aquarium keeping. Have an amiracle overflow box flowing to a custom twenty gallon long refugium. The white bulkhead in the overflow box has an O-ring inside the acrylic, and one outside. The O-rings have degraded to the point they were splitting and wouldnt seal. We have tried all local hardware stores (lowes, home depot, etc) and cannot find ones that are thick enough. Anyone know of any good source? As far as I know, amiracle is out of bussiness. Not an emergency, but getting alot of dripage, and saltcreep down the flex hose and need to get this fixed soon.

rgulrich · 07/03/2015, 05:36 AM

Have you tried our good friend "Google"? I think you'll be able to find something close to the size you're looking for form one of the array of places selling o-rings. If not, you could always try to make a flat washer set out of a piece of silicone sheet picked up from Amazon or someplace. I'm just not too good at using scissors for such, and you really don't want to see my X-acto knife work on silicone. Functional, but not pretty.

In a last ditch effort, break out the tube of aquarium sealant and run a bead inside both sides of bulkhead (replacing the o-rings), seat, tighten, and let it cure for 24 hours. You'd have to keep your sump and aquarium circulating separately while it cures, but as it's not really a pressure seal, you shouldn't have too much of a problem with it leaking from that point forward. If you ever tighten or loosen the that connection, however, it will break that seal.

Hope that helps a bit.
Cheers,
Ray

Bruce51 · 07/03/2015, 06:04 AM

try a auto parts store....my local napa has a drawer just full of different sized O rings...from quarter inch to 2 inches

sleepydoc · 07/03/2015, 02:01 PM

Will one of these work?

Pdfcrazy · 07/13/2015, 12:33 AM

Found some flat rubber washers in the plumbing section, intended for sink faucet repair, but they should work.

07/02/2015, 11:26 PM	#1
Pdfcrazy Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 54	Overflow box leaking So....new to forum, not to aquarium keeping. Have an amiracle overflow box flowing to a custom twenty gallon long refugium. The white bulkhead in the overflow box has an O-ring inside the acrylic, and one outside. The O-rings have degraded to the point they were splitting and wouldnt seal. We have tried all local hardware stores (lowes, home depot, etc) and cannot find ones that are thick enough. Anyone know of any good source? As far as I know, amiracle is out of bussiness. Not an emergency, but getting alot of dripage, and saltcreep down the flex hose and need to get this fixed soon.

07/03/2015, 05:36 AM	#2
rgulrich greybeard Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: MD Posts: 893	Have you tried our good friend "Google"? I think you'll be able to find something close to the size you're looking for form one of the array of places selling o-rings. If not, you could always try to make a flat washer set out of a piece of silicone sheet picked up from Amazon or someplace. I'm just not too good at using scissors for such, and you really don't want to see my X-acto knife work on silicone. Functional, but not pretty. In a last ditch effort, break out the tube of aquarium sealant and run a bead inside both sides of bulkhead (replacing the o-rings), seat, tighten, and let it cure for 24 hours. You'd have to keep your sump and aquarium circulating separately while it cures, but as it's not really a pressure seal, you shouldn't have too much of a problem with it leaking from that point forward. If you ever tighten or loosen the that connection, however, it will break that seal. Hope that helps a bit. Cheers, Ray __________________ The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein Current Tank Info: 360 degree walk around 300 DD island–4 300W & 2 165W ViparSpectra, 4 Kessil A350W, 2 A360WE, 3 XF150, 1 XF250, 1 XF350 Gyre along with 2 PP40 and 2 IceCap 3K gyre for robust current. Basement 150 gallon RubberMaid sump, SKIMZ skimmer, DCP18000

07/03/2015, 02:01 PM	#4
sleepydoc Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 3,907	Will one of these work? __________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 120 gallon, coast to coast overflow w/beananimal overflow. Waveline DC 10000 II return pump, 40 gal sump, Octopus XS200 skimmer, T5 lighting

07/03/2015, 06:04 AM	#3
Bruce51 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: reno, nv Posts: 201	try a auto parts store....my local napa has a drawer just full of different sized O rings...from quarter inch to 2 inches

07/13/2015, 12:33 AM	#5
Pdfcrazy Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 54	Found some flat rubber washers in the plumbing section, intended for sink faucet repair, but they should work.