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Today I finally received my thermometers that I ordered. We had a huge snow storm and they were delayed a week!
One is a floating one (fusion smart temp) and it says my water is 78. I also got an infrared to try to get a more acurate temp and it says it's 74. I'm not using a heater yet. I'm waiting til I get my bigger tank next month.

My main concern is the basking area. I built them a DIY topper with a ceramic base and the outter edge with the infrared says it's 88 deg but under the bulb it self it says 105! The bulb is a 75w fluker and is 13 in away. Should I put in a 50w or will my 7 month olds be ok? I just put the new topper on yesterday and I have yet to see them go farther then the outter edge of the ceramic.
When I place my hand on it it doesn't feel bad. Nice and toasty. Makes me want to bask.

An infrared temp gun pointed at just water can give bad readings. Try the water just where it first hits the basking ramp.

As to the temp variance with the basking bulb, so long as there's room for the turtle to find the right temp, you should be fine. I had a 60 watt incandescent with a ver small turtle. I had readings similar to yours with an infrared gun and my turtle was fine. Sometimes she was at the hottest point and sometimes not, but no issues.

Thank you for the input ! And that was naturally where I decided to take the water temp! I was hoping that was the case with the bulb bc I had a 100w with their floating dock and they LOVED it. But it blew and the floating dock sank so they weren't drying off completely. So I went lower watt with ceramic service to hold the warmth. Lol I was worried it was holding too well.