Ok, I had extra light with red bulb(?basking lamp?) so I cut out the plexiglass and put it in. I check in about an hour to see what the temps are. The temp gauge I am using on left side doesn't have probe, its just a little white one with a stand(springfield from wal-mart) I just have sitting on top of sub on left side(cold side), is that ok? On the right side I have the probe under the substrate and the accurite it self on the lower portion on the warm side. I have the probe for the thermastat which is connected to the uth under the sub with the accurite probe. Should I move the probes to the top of sub? I don't have a therm for the ceramic heater, but the accurtie which is beneath it has never gotten above 90-I got a snake because I was having trouble with fish and thought it would be easier, boy was I wrong1