I live in Wisconsin and have just framed off and drywalled a 10 by 15 foot portion of my basement. I'm going to pink foam board the exposed cinderblock walls and work on insulating now. My basement in the winter can be 60 degrees at its coldest, this is without any insulation, and 78 79 degrees at its hottest in summer. I obviously will run a dehumidifier in the summer.
I mostly keep guppies and have done this super successfully, at room temperature in the upstairs of my house where the thermostat in winter is usually 68 69, so sometimes dropping to 65 or so at night. I'm really just looking to raise the temperature 10 degrees to around 70 in the winter, and am running out of time to test warming the place up as it is getting to be spring here. I'd love if someone could recommend me the exact space heater, wall heater, or whatever they are using to heat their fish room. Maybe a temperature controller also? The more I read about every heater I've researched I get sketched out by a review of it almost burning the house down. I keep getting discouraged to pull the trigger on any type of space heater as I look at reviews. Anyone have one they've been using for a year and not burnt the house down, feel comfortable with it running when they are away? I'll honestly probably set up a wifi camera down there to keep an eye on it anyways, not that it can put out fires. Am I just too paranoid about space heaters of old, and modern ones are different?