New 300G Setup

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Denon

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jan 6, 2018
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Hey all, been a lurker here for a long time, and seeing as how I am actually beginning a new journey, thought I would kick it off with a thread about my plans and to see how it goes. I went with a 300G from Glasscages. In my kneck of the woods, craigslist and facebook very rarley have any larger tanks. I ordered it back in mid-November 2020 and it is scheduled to arrive Monday January, 25th . I am super stoked, I think I have everything I will need for the setup. I got the basic tank and stand from gc and plan on drilling 7 holes when it comes in for overflows, returns and a drain line. I plan on going for all standard PVC for water flow with plenty of union's so if I need to do any maintenance I am covered. I ended up going with a Custom Aquariums H2Overflow rated for 2400Gph for the drain lines and (4) 3/4" syphon stopper returns. I plan on doing a 1" evacuation line that I will attach a jebaow pump for water changes. Since the setup will be right next to an outside wall, and I don't have any nearby drains, I plan on just popping a 1" hole through to the outside and draining into the garden. Hopefully this won't freeze up during the winter. :nilly:For the H2Overflow, I plan on going with a bean animal setup with (3) 1 1/2" drain lines. All of which will drain down into a 75G aqueon, I picked up at petco's discount tank sale. I plan on drilling the 75G tank with a 1 inch drain as well so that if the sump is ever close to overflowing, it will drain outside. I plan on attaching both the drain lines and putting a ball valve on both lines before the T on either side so that it will only drain into the garden and not back up into the sump. For the sump design, I plan on going baffleless, and wil be adding a jaxracks (ebay) dual 7" filter sock holder to help with mechanical filtration and going with a boatload of ceramic rings and a few 2" sponge sheets I picked up on amazon. For the heaters, I choose 2 of the BRS 300W's and I am using a Ranco thermastat I wired up. I also ended up using some 3/8" heatshrink tubing on the ranco probe, to protect it from sitting in the water. For the return pumps I went with 2 of the jebaow 8000's. I plan on feeding them each 2 syhpon stopper returns, so will see how that goes. The tank sits right next to my cold water line for my ice maker, so I have considered doing a drip, but think I may wait on that until I am further along in the project. I think I have all my bases covered on this, and will update with pictures as I get the build moving forward. Please let me know if anyone has any questions, criticism, or comments on my plans. Thanks!
 
You're gonna love, I mean LOVE having a drain on your tank. I've got a drain on my 300 also. No problem with freezing, it's warm water after all.

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I run the Ranco controller on two tanks and have always had problems with the sensors going bad no matter how I sealed them. I finally started using thermowells and never looked back. Just glue a little piece of acrylic on the inside wall of your sump with a drilled hole to accept the thermowell. The sensor slips inside and never contacts water. Kinda pricey but compared to replacing a bad sensor it's a bargain.

 
Those are some great drain line pictures. Is that a 1" pipe? Really glad you included those because I would never have thought to put a p-trap in.

As for the Ranco, I had one on my other tank for around 5 years with some standard 3/8" vinyl tubing, that I used a heat gun on and crimped the end, and it worked great, but really looked bad since it was in my display tank. One day, I finally decided I had, had enough of how it looked and pulled it off and stuck the probe in directly. Not sure what I was thinking, but to my surprise, it continued to work and has worked flawlessly for the last couple of years. Just recently with this new project, I decided I was going to go the same path with another Ranco, as I was researching, I realized there was a reason I had initally had the vinyl tubing on there. lol. I looked at the probe and the sheathing was starting to get pretty brittle. So I looked around quite a bit, and initially was going to go with a thermowell, but with all the different options to choose from I got a bit overwhelmed, and not being keen on putting the stainless in the water as well, I decided to give the heat shrink a try. So far it has held up really well. I have no doubt the thermowell is the better option, I am just hoping the heatshrink holds up. So really strange you had your sensors go out. Maybe I just got really lucky with the one I have?
 
The drain pipe from the tank and sump are 1" but then goes to 1-1/2" at the trap. I continued to run 1-1/2" out into the woods behind my house.

Ya, I've had issues with sensors in the past but no more!

Stainless in the water?
 
Yeah I know its irrational for freshwater, but I was reading saltwater forums, when I was reading about thermowells and they were all saying not to use stainless steel in salt water due to rust potential.
 
Not sure where you plan on drilling but make sure you drill holes behind an overflow box otherwise you risk a big flood. I had this issue recently on my 535g.

I currently have a ranco controller but was planning on upgrading to a Hydros Control 2 which comes with a temp probe and lets you automate some monitoring.
 
Randys You don't happen to have a picture of your thermowell installed? Since I am using titanium heaters and they don't have there own thermostat, I think I may go with the thermowell. :thumbsup: It seems like it would be safer, just in case the probe on the new Ranco I got isn't as good of quality as the one i am currently using.
 
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nzafi So I'll be using the h2overflow for two of the holes and then all the others will either be attached to drains or pumps. I was thinking about getting a tote of some sort to set my sump in just in case. Do you have any recommendations? Is that what you are talking about?
 
Randys You don't happen to have a picture of your thermowell installed? Since I am using titanium heaters and they don't have there own thermostat, I think I may go with the thermowell. :thumbsup: It seems like it would be safer, just in case the probe on the new Ranco I got isn't as good of quality as the one i am currently using.


Why soitenly!

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