What kind of substrate do you plan on using?

For substrate go with paper towel, newspaper, a non adesive shelf liner, repticarpet, or even tile, like slate tile. ABSOLUTELY NO WALNUT SHELL

What UVB bulb did you get?

Have you tried baking it?
And you could always try a bleach solution to clean the log but you have to use like a 1/4 cup of bleach to a gallon of water to dilute it. I'm pretty sure that's what it's supposed to be, I'll double check. When you do it put it in a bathtub or something with that solution and then be sure to rinse really well with water and make sure there are absolutely no traces of bleach left

Why two digital thermometers? depending on the kind you get, most will show the temperature of where the actual thing is, and where the probe is, if you get one with a probe, which i would say it best because you can stick the probe directly on the basking spot.

Any kind of bulb is ok as long as it gets to the proper temps.