Depends how much you want to solo / team. More "teamy" means AoE more attractive (Fire is best for this).
To be honest, tanks are mainly defined by their primary, and Id just go with concept and fun.
Just get taunt! 
Of course of course..... hehe tyvm for ur reply... i guess ill go stone/fire cos im very fond of teaming!!
Thnx, the pidgenator
I went stone/stone and team exclusively. Believe me, if you've got mudpots and taunt it's no handicap. I can hoover up the mobs and if they get to riotous I stamp my foot and yeehah, nothing more satifying than watching 10 mobs do backward somersaults 
But I always build concept toons. My stone tank is a big lumbering beast (I don't even use sprint) and the idea of him doing those leaping twirls with the fire sword just didn't quite fit.
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My stone tank is a big lumbering beast (I don't even use sprint
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Sprint detoggles granite. Only swift and SB can affect a granite tanker, since they can't jump and any movement toggles mean granite is switched off.
But if you want concept, stone or SS. Big "HULK SMASH!" type powers that look good coming from a hulking piece of rock. For damage, I recall Battle Axe getting a level 4 attack which has a higher brawl index than midnight grasp, my main's final power. Of course, being a tanker the damage is reduced, but still.
Oh, and stone/stone has stone mallet. Come on, it looks so cool!
Crowd Control, the cone aoe from the Mace set, causes knockback as does Shatter (one of the single target attacks). Knockback should be discouraged when you're plodding around in Rooted/Granite. I went Stone with my stone tanker and am enjoying it a lot.
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I'd say.. pick anything except ice 
We got Firebeetle on the SG, a stone/fire wich has awsome aoe. Though lack of any mez, i have a /ss running around wich Footstomp is a serious present from heaven. Marius i think has a /EM, wich can do serious single target damage (ET/TF) and has great disorient strength. Then Axe wich has overall great damage.
Mace and ice are the bit lesser imho, but a good skilled /ice or /mace player can work also perfectly with that set.
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Dont pick Ice? Are you mad? The damage is pretty weak, but Ice secondary is an incredible secondary for one reason - Ice Slick!
This power can be made permanent with one SO. This power boosts your survivability by more than any one single tanker primary except granite (and probably more than many two primaries). This power makes it even easier to keep mobs packed around you like flies to excrement.
Do not listen! If you want to be the toughest tank ever, then Stone / Ice is unbeatable.
PS This power will make you want to rip the heads of energy blasters...
IF theres one secondary to ditch, is war mace I think.. :/
Thats the reason why Iceslick aint 'dah ubah power' of a tanker (anymore). Not only NRG/, but Kheldians, /elec, AR, Sonic, storm even Rad has knockbacks, and if you 100% rely on a patch on bigger then spreaded arms...
Granite is already close to unbeatable, hence the penalties. As he likes the SB, he can go way more attackive wich Ice can offer. Thus far i havent faced anything except Psi that could take my granite down that fast, maybe a 8team +3 infernal&portal, but having granite Ice might be the overkill and making solobility just a bit too hard.
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Kockback is a pain to a tank anyway - especially a stone tank who cant go chasing after everyone.
Knockback powers seem to be built for solo-play. THey certainly are great damage mitigation for a energy blaster. They screw things up for teams most of the time. I have seen knockback used constructively against walls / corners but this requires great skill on whole team, and great restraint by blasters in particular - who are not known for restraint
I have a Stone/Fire, presently lvl 41.
I chose stone because it was the primary that I felt could take the most beating. I wanted to stand in the middle of 20 +3s and take it all. I can, and more.
That given, me being the center of attention, I wanted the mobs right on me, and wanted as many AOE attacks that didn't cause them to run away. Fire was it for me.
I am perma GA, which opens a ton of slots, I run sans GA for evens and +1s as I don't need it.
Mud Pots, Build Up, Combustion, Fire Sword Circle are the staple and cause significant aggro as well as damage. I have gone Earth Epic to get the AOE -DEF and the AOE damaging hold.
I use Flight & TP as travel and have Haste to boost the GA penalty.
Personally I love it. Last night I lost a SK and was wading into piles of +6 Rikti, Rooted and Earth Meld countered the Psi damage. My only problem was I couldn't do much damage back (!).
IMO, Stone is meant to gather and keep all the aggro close - I would avoid the secondaries that cause mobs to spread out.
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I chose stone because it was the primary that I felt could take the most beating. I wanted to stand in the middle of 20 +3s and take it all.
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But then unfortunately they made the aggro cap 17
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I chose stone because it was the primary that I felt could take the most beating. I wanted to stand in the middle of 20 +3s and take it all.
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But then unfortunately they made the aggro cap 17
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Only 17 can aggro me? Nah, I think they can all aggro me surely? Are you pointing out that a Tank can taunt/keep the attention of 17 max? Or that taunt affects 17 max? I am unclear.... 
I have no doubts the whole mission can aggro you but as for you aggroing them all at once thats different.
Do a test for yourself, run around "without" mudpots on through a mission and see how many you can get to actually be chasing you at any one time. Allow as many as possible time to catch up and then have them hitting you. You should only get as much as 17 wanting to kill you at any one time. Others would ignore you. Then turn on mudpots and have a friend attack and see how many of the 17 you can actually keep using those mudpots only. (You should be only able to keep 10 if they still are in your mudpots after the friends few attempts).
About mudpots though, the power will send out a taunt pulse every so often, if you lack the taunt duration in the mudpots then your friend may be able to get aggro from you as there maybe a window of no taunt duration between pulses that a foe may escape through.
It basically means you can only have upto 17 specifically after you and it takes a steady supply of taunts to keep it that way.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
I can see why. I recall in the old old days, when I played a bit on the US servers, that storm defenders would herd the whole of PP into a big pile of laggy fun.
I'm new to tankers... want to go Stone because i know how much they rule when SBed (my mains a kin troller)... howerver i don't know which attacking set i should go for!
Fire cos of its AofEs and Cones
Stone, well cos its so cool
War Mace again cos of its AofEs!
thnx for ur help