TH heat tape questions

[grrmisfit]

Setup - 55 gallon aquarium with foam board on 3 sides. top is setup with insulation ( foil and cloth like paper towels ) to help maintain heat and humidity. Tape is 6" wide 2 foot long. I have 2 thermometers in the setup on the hot side to double check my readings. I do have a hydrofarm thermometer ready to go to but have not hooked it up yet as I am still in setup phase and no animal is living in there yet. Substrate is coconut fiber at roughly an inch or less thick

Problem - both thermometers are giving me a reading of 89-90.7 with the heat tape at full power. Is this normal? I was under the assumption it would get a lot hotter. Is it because the glass is cooling it more? room temp is about 77 and the temp on cool side of tank is 80 with humidity at 60%

[PitOnTheProwl]

Heat tape is to create a hot spot, not heat the ambient temperature.
Have you placed one of your thermometer probes under the coco or between the THG and glass?

[grrmisfit]

between the coco and glass is 96 right on top of the coco is the other probe and its 86

edit: temp is now staying at 98 under the substrate on top of the glass