thanks KMG, took your advice an waited a few hours. hot side tstat is now set at 92° and surface temp is 88-90° now. ambiant temp is now 80° an my cool hide is in the middle kinda an surface temps are around 77°. my room is real cold so i got my tub surrounded by insulation board on 3 sides, so the far end where its not covered is still floating between 73-75° but she never goes there. im alot more confident in my setup now.