a bit of advice needed and a bit of venting

[ron101]

Good deal. You're right on about customer service these days.

I was just going to chime in that it is not worth trying to work around a cracked pane. Once cracked it is significantly weaker. Even if you have to buy a new tank, it will be MUCH cheaper than replacing livestock, and repairing water damage.

I think my All-Glass instructions say to just hand snug the bulkheads with the supplied wrench (it has no real arm length on it). If it is already fairly snug and still leaking then it's probably the fitting and/or the rubber seal that is hooped.