Hello, brand new to this forum and wanted to get some advise. I have a bp housed in a 20 gallon glass tank with a mesh top. I am using an accurite thermometer which measure indoor/outdoor temps and humidity. Right now I am using an UTH on the right side of the tank. I am using a hydrofarm thermostate to measure the heat out put. I have the thermostat probe between the UTH and the glass bottom. I then have the thermometer probe hot glued on the the inside of the tank right in the center of the UTH close to the thermostat probe. My accurite unit is on the left hand side (cool side ) of the tank. I am using Aspen bedding.

Here is the problem, using a IR temp gun, my surface temp on the aspen where he has his hide is reading 88.5*F, the accurite probe measing the temp on bottom of tank is reading 93-94*F, and my hydrofarm thermostat is set at 97*F. Am I setting the thermostat to high? Do I need to set it higher? I would like to get the hot spot under his hide to at least 90*F, but in order to do that I would need to set my thermostat to a setting of around 100*F and I think that may be to high.

Using the IR gun my surface temp on my cool side of the tank is at 77.5*F. Any help and advise will be greatly appreciated. Thank so much!