I took a bunch of substrate out, now I have probably an inch or so, just enough to cover the bottom, the ACU RITE sensor is under the substrate a little bit and I am going to give it a few minutes for the temp to go back to normal, I will just do what I have been doing until I can get the good thermostat. My house is always hot because I live in a cold area, but today my dad turned the heat off and thats when my temps dropped, so I'll get the thermostat you recommend as soon as I can, For now I am going to use what has been working for 2 weeks now.