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reefiness

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when i had halides on a 2 ft deep tank, i had them about 12 inches off the water line.

MH are very forgiving IME. i had them lower for a while 8-10" but i had to clean the glass shields more often because they got more salt deposits on them from splashing.
 

reefiness

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Staten Island
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yes, the higher you mount the lights, the more par you will lose and the greater spread you will get as with any light.

The majority of your par loss comes from travel through the water though. the extra 2-4" of air, will only reduce PAR by <5%.

And as i mentioned, thats what worked for me. I moved them there because i didnt want to clean the glass protector as often because I was lazy. The closest to the tank ive ever heard them run was about 8" over the water. If you run there, just make sure to keep up with cleaning the salt deposits on the glass or you will have much more than just a 5% loss of PAR.
 

bklynreef

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new york
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How many watts and whats the Kelvin? These two questions make all the difference.
I have a 3 ft deep tank with 400 Watt 20K's and i keep mine pretty high at about 18inches above but more so because i can get in and out without constantly moving them up n down but also with that amount of wattage pretty much everything is getting enough light or the bottom LPS corals get a little less intense light as needed.
 

reefiness

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Location
Staten Island
Rating - 100%
215   0   0
How many watts and whats the Kelvin? These two questions make all the difference.
I have a 3 ft deep tank with 400 Watt 20K's and i keep mine pretty high at about 18inches above but more so because i can get in and out without constantly moving them up n down but also with that amount of wattage pretty much everything is getting enough light or the bottom LPS corals get a little less intense light as needed.

yup, this is important too. I was running 250 watt DE 14k Phoenix bulbs at the 12" height over a 90 gallon (24" height)
 

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