.....Hey OCAP, I just sent a 'PM' to you about bulkheads.....and 'now' I see this...

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with a bulkhead......(?)
I've use them with great success . Of course, on the inside of what they are being installed on, has to be flat.
Where as, with uni-seals, they leak (very little) about 1/2 the time. I've also used a uni-seal that has threads on the inside....they also had a 50 % succes rate.
I used the 2" economy bulkheads from aquatic-eco systems, when I built my wooden 500 gal fish tank and used them on the wooden troughs with liners also.


The liner isn't in the tank yet....I was test fitting the bulkheads.

Comming out the bottom of your wood bed, shouldn't be a problem.
I've used rubber and dura-scrim as liners...in both cases, I used a brand new razor blade to cut 'each' hole, plus, I made the hole in the liner slightly smaller then the hole in the wood.
I've installed over 20 bulkheads ( in wood taks/troughs) with no issues so far.

For people that haven't used them yet....Uniseals are designed to go through thin material, like a plastic 55 gal barrel.
Once installed, you have to slide a section of pvc through them. It's a very tight fit....
putting some rubbing alcohol onto the pipe helps make it slide through the uni easier.
Also, beveling the end of the pvc, that your going to insert into the uni, helps a lot.
The bigger the pipe/ uni-seal, the harder they are to install

Something very thin, like an IBC, would be taking a 'beating' trying to install the uni...also, I wouldn't want to try to install one in a glass tank either.