I am saving up for a exoterra cage for my guy, but in the meantime I am obviously having a hard time keeping heat in my glass aquarium. Hot spot over UTh is fine at 88-92.

I know there is a similar thread about this but I do have a few specific questions.

i have a 100 watt CHE on full power in a wire fixture sitting right in the middle of my 20 gallon, directly on the mesh lid. The CHE itself is about 3 inches away from the mesh because it is a large fixture. My house temps stay between 72-75. I can barely get the ambient temp above 76 on either side.

Does aluminum foil reflect the heat emmited or does is conduct. In other words, if I was to wrap the top half of the wire fixture would it reflect heat downward into the cage or would it suck the heat up?

i also have aluminum wrapped around three sides of the glass tank because I thought it would help reflect heat back in, but if it conducts, then all I am doing is pulling out more heat.

i have 75% of the mesh lid covered with foil which maintains humidity very well for me.

i point the shiny side of the foil into the cage when wrapped around the outside of the glass.

in summary, should I wrap my wire fixture to reflect heat downward or would that not work. Should I not wrap foil around the outside of the glass to keep heat in and what could I use that's better. And is it okay to put my CHE inside an inclosed reflective large dome instead of the wire fixture as long as it has a ceramic screw in, and just make sure the CHE stays on its dimmer and adjusted until I get the right ambient heat?

because right now this dang 100 watt CHe measures just under 600 degrees at full power when I temp gun it but it's not putting any heat into my cage almost at all, or it is just escaping right away. Even when I temp gun the ground it is very low readings if not over my UTH, which tells me the heat from the CHe isn't reaching the ground.

any ideas? Or should I just go back to using my dome fixture with infrared heat bulb? I've just heard so many good things about CHE's but it ain't working for meh. What am I doing wrong?.... besides using the glass aquarium lol. Remember I will be getting a high end exoterra terrarium as soon as I can.