Heating a fish room

Looking for some advice. The fiance and I are going to be moving out of my apartment and too a house soon. The town I am looking at is mostly homes built in 1960/1970s. The couple house I am considering have unfinished basements that I would convert to a fish room. I would have to insult the room, run plumbing and some more outlets etc which is not an issue (and I will post more about this when the time comes). The question I have concerns heating. I can heat the basement no problem off the furnace but I will not be able to have its own thermostat which would be an issue. I want to for the most part heat the room and avoid heaters. My contractor buddy is looking into a few ideas to heat the room efficiently and safely on its own separate from the main furnace. I thought I would reach out here and see if there is anything I should suggest he look into.

krichardson said:

Once you've insulated the basement,along with the furnace,perhaps that might be enough to keep it warm enough for your tanks.My basement drops to low seventies in the winter and my house is older than those that you are looking into.I still run individual aquarium heaters during that time of course.I'm interested in seeing what your contractor friends come up with for options.

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Thanks for the idea. I thought of that but i need the room to be about 80. To stay this warm I think I will need extra help.

Pharaoh said:

Use one of those infrared heaters you can buy at the hardware store. I have one in the fish room and it doesn't really run all that much. Keeps the room toasty at 83*.

And extra insulation will make it even cheaper and easier.

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Thanks Bobby I will look into this. Are they relatively safe to have plugged in all the time?

shookONES said:

Weren't you planning on running large central systems?

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Initially I was. I will run the 250gallon tanks and maybe a few others on a system, and I want to get one large tank that will be on a sump, but the rest will be larger tanks run on air for the most part.

krichardson said:

I have been thinking of something to use that would not draw any more electricity than I'm already using and I have considered setting up a small wood burning or even a pellet stove.

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Be honest a little too risky for me