How long should it take to reach expected temperatures in the tank?

[rixusaku]

I have a 100w dual heat and uvb bulb for my tank and I'm testing temperatures before I bring my bluey home. He's a northern and I know the hot side is supposed to be somewhere within 90-100° F. I have a timer set to turn the lights on at 8am and then turn them off at 8pm.

It's now 1:18pm and since the light has been on since 8am the temperature is only reading as 82.8° F. The temp started at 74°
F since that's the temperature inside my apartment. I understand that things take some time to heat up, much like how it's hotter in the afternoon than it is in the morning, but I wanted to know if the heat up time is supposed to be faster. I would have expected the temperature to read as 90° F at the lowest by now. Should I get a higher wattage bulb? My tank is 18" high.

Any help is appreciated!

[rixusaku]

Update: never mind, the hot side of the tank is only reaching 84° F and it's 6:30pm right now. I think I'll go out and buy another bulb with a higher wattage. I'm still curious how long it would take to heat up to it's high temps though, so if anyone has some answers on what they're used to seeing I would still appreciate it! :D

[Janella]

Yes, as you figured out you will need a stronger bulb. It should.warm up rather quickly with the correct bulb.

[rixusaku]

I got the highest dual bulb they had which was the 160w and I'm only reaching within the low 90's with it. My tank size is 48x24x18 inches and the heat lamp is suspended about an inch off the mesh top. I think that's good enough, but it's still not quite as high as I would like it. 95 seems like a good number, but maybe 90 is enough? I just don't want it going lower than that on the hot side is the thing.

I'm suspecting it's something wrong with the temperature gauges I bought. I bought a ZooMed digital reader that has a probe attached to it. So, I went and bought a temperature gun to see if I need to get myself a different/better temp reader than the one I have. Or maybe it's the placement of the probe itself that I'm getting wrong? I have it on the inside's side (not the back) of the tank about halfway between the low and mid points of the side panel vertically.

[rixusaku]

Here's an image of the location in case I was a bit confusing in my previous post:

cmMmL7E.jpg

[mb606587]

Seems like the probe isn't directly underneath the light. If you can, place a flat rock directly underneath and use your temperature gun to read the temperature directly on top of the hot surface. I suspect the temperature reading may be higher.

[rixusaku]

Seems like the probe isn't directly underneath the light. If you can, place a flat rock directly underneath and use your temperature gun to read the temperature directly on top of the hot surface. I suspect the temperature reading may be higher.

I do have the two flat rocks in the picture directly under the light (and have since pushed them closer together). I put the probe on them and the temps got higher, so I think it might be a location issue. I'm getting my temp gun in the mail tomorrow just in case. I'm thinking I might buy one of those reptile rock stairs to get it closer to the light.