Welcome to the WMAS King-Richard. I see that you are already a paid member, signed up for this MB last month and that this is your very first post.
My motto is always KISS
Reef aquariums do well at 70-80 degrees, so long as the day-night temperature swing is no more than 5 degrees.
My
suggestion is to unplug the heater and watch the temp to see if a
heater is even needed. It can go down to 65 and everything,
coral/fish/inverts, will be fine. I have a 10 gal Nano in the window
that runs at around 70 degrees
The key about heaters, like Burt said, is to realize that the marked temps on the heater are not accurate, just there to give some general idea. Turn the knob slowly in small increments until the light goes out. (If the heater stays on with it adjusted as low as the knob will go it is broken.) After the light goes out, wait a few hours and see if the temperature is where you want it. The ideal temperature setting is 70-75 because that allows the aquarium to warm a little during the day without causing problems. If there is no light or it burned out, turn the knob all the way down and wait for the heater to cool down. Place your hand into the water and wrap it
loosely around the heater. Turn the knob in small increments until you feel warmth. You will feel warmth almost immediately when the heater turns on. Then turn it back one increment and wait a few hours or even a day to see if that temperature stays constant (without extra warmth from lights). Adjust in small increments as needed.
Regarding a controller, there is certainly value to having the ability to automatically shut down the heater and turn on cooling fans when a hobbyist is not around to check on things, but...
Recently a hobbyist here had a controller that went bad.
Edited by Mark Peterson - December 24 2010 at 11:04am
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