Quote Originally Posted by SharkFan View Post
I think you may be onto something with the air gap and don’t think the mat is faulty. Before I had the t stat and BP, I plugged the heat mat in and the glass inside the tank was 109* measured with an infrared thermometer.
I can still turn the thermostat up a few degrees and get it a bit warmer in the hide. At 84 I think I’m pretty close, and temps seem to remain stable.
Yea if you can get it up just a few degrees you'd be fine. I use to stress a lot about that "90 degree hotspot" a lot of care guides talk about, but I've had pretty good luck with everything ranging from 86 to 90. I think you'll be fine, just have to either turn the thermostat up or maybe play around with the probe to get more contact with the glass.