distance from water vs from coral and both

Wiz · Mar 16, 2015

I was thinkin bout my lighting. Which is 2 rr-165p+s over a 40b. They are hung roughly 2ft above the water. I have a lot of wierd issues. Ny duncan which has always been happy closed up tight. After four days I dropped it to the sand. Noticed an immediate improvement. It is slowly opening back up. My sps at the top of my rocks 3-6" under surface are awsome. Growing well. But my sunny ds which were beside the duncans old spot (5-6" under)are stretching up. My frogspawn, trumpet, branching hammer, and bubble corals are all very open. Some green palys that are 6-8" under are half closing and running south. Seems confused. Some too brite some not enough. But unexpected. Lps and sunny ds needing more appearently, duncan and palys too much. Anyway,
First, I would assume light par disapates faster through water than air. But does anyone know how much faster? Is two feet above water surface too much?
Second, why would sunny ds and lps require more light than the sps that seem great?
Third, does the length of time lights are bright mean the same as brighter or dimmer lighting.? Meaning will a longer photo period make up for lights that are not bright enough, or vice versa?
Last, opinions should I drop the lighting closer to the water? And move corals to adjust. I run my lights from 10am royal blues ramped to 2pm full actinic and white until 7pm when it starts ramping down. Royals go out at midnight.
I realize this is a late light sched. But I rise at 9-10 and work until 1030-1130. So I wanna see my tank.
Also is this period too long?
Any opinions on all of this are appreciated. :-D

Wiz · Mar 16, 2015

Also fyi, I made a thick blackout curtain that is velcroed to the tank from midnight until 10am.

Bow · Mar 16, 2015

You are going full intensity on them? These lights are strong. Not sure what you were running before but the corals need to acclimate to the new lights

Wiz · Mar 17, 2015

Bow said:
You are going full intensity on them? These lights are strong. Not sure what you were running before but the corals need to acclimate to the new lights

I was running two t5 fixtures. One 36" two tube fixture. And one 30" 5 tube fixture. Yes I run the actinics and whites full intensity from 2-7. I have been running the leds for bout 90 days. But as I said they are 2 ft above the water and bout 2.5 feet from the closest coral. Most corals are happy. It was only a couple that seem wierd. And of those some seem under lit as they are fully stretching up.