so after the whole disaster with my last heater i plan on getting a new ceramic heater, but what is the best way to bring the water temp back up w/o bringing it up to quickly and shocking the fish just raise it a few deg. every day or every other day?

I would say everyday is fine, most new submersible heaters are preset to 78 degrees fahrenheit. But if it isn't preset then let it go and as the light turns off take note of what the temp is then turn it up 1 notch at a time. Just make sure you don't turn it up too much at a time because you may damage the heater. The heater I have in my tank now is broken because of not doing research. It's on the lowest setting and will only go down to about 79-80 degrees.