Pond heater help needed please

[ExoticEctotherms]

I have an indoor turtle pond set up in my garage. It consists of two 600 gallon stock tanks filtered by an elevated 300 gallon stock tank "dump filter" that filters both tanks. They aren't filled all the way to the top, so I estimate that I have about 1200 gallons in total. I was using a Won Brothers 1500 watt titanium heater in the filter to maintain winter time temps in the mid 50's, however the heater just died. The controller is still good, so I figured I'd just get another Won Brothers since it lasted about 2 1/2 years....but they are out of stock EVERYWHERE. All the places I've called have told me that they have been promised new inventory for weeks, but they have never arrived.

My garage is well insulated and doesn't get lower that 48-50 degrees unless we get a major cold spell...but the next largest size heater I can find is 1000 watt, which I think is extremely undersized. Hell, the 1500 watt was undersized, but it kept the water pretty consistently close to the set temp.

My question is: do I have any other options to heat this behemoth? I've thought about heating the whole garage, but I really don't want my utility bills to skyrocket.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Fishman Dave]

Don’t know a great deal about turtles but the one I have needs to have the air temp warm as well as the water. Also needs to have uv light to stop the shell getting soft. Mine is in an insulated large garden shed in the uk where external temperatures can be 0 degrees for weeks on end however by having tanks in my shed each with smaller heaters the shed stays at 26 Celsius and my 1400g pond in there is unheated at 23 Celsius.
If not looking to have multiple tanks with smaller heaters in the garage, the best option may be a number of smaller heaters in the ponds or indeed heating the room when temperatures get below a certain point using a thermostatic heater so it’s not on all the time.
Since heating the room would require a higher temp, I would expect it to be more expensive than the multiple smaller heater route which is the only real option I can think of.

 

[ExoticEctotherms]

Thank you for the reply. I do have multiple UV lights in each pond. I’m thinking I may use two 1000 watt heaters in the filter sump instead of a single 1500 watt. It would also provide a safety net if one of them dies.

 

[Texasrockwell]

You could always set up something inside your house temporarily if it gets too cold. That could hold you over till you can get a larger heater.