Depth and Light Coral ONLY

[Westfield]

Ok My new tank (building) is 20 gallon depth 14
Lighting 350m lumens blue LED ~460nm
So after loading crushed coral and live rock the
Lowest/deepest coral will be about ~2 inches from bottom or 12 from the lights and the highest about 11 from the bottom 3 from the lights
My question
I read about coral liking low, medium or high depth
With a max depth of 12 and a min depth of 3
Does it make that much difference

Sorry may be stupid ? but Just Learning
John

 

[jayball]

Yes there will be a large difference between 3 and 12 inches somewhere around a half to a third the light available. What lights are you using? Single spectrum blue led will not be a good light source.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'd try to share power level info with you, but I don't know that fixture you have.

Yes, the difference between 3" and 12" does make a difference, but it's not that big a deal. My tank is 24" deep and I have corals at 20" and 4". Acclimation of the coral to the light is very helpful.

Not knowing your fixture, I'd just suggest you start with really low power settings and slowly work up over time. Adjust the power up some every week or two.

 

[Westfield]

Thanks

 

[Sk8r]

Definitely start as low as you can. Bring up the level a bit every 3 days.

I'm using Radion Pro, unit is mounted, if I recall, 9" above the tank above a glass lid, corals are about 15" down from water surface, so there's a total (given air space,) of about 25" between light and corals. Lights are running at 50% of capacity, and lps corals seem (now that I'm straightening out a water issue) to be content with that light.