I would like to think it covers the tank pretty good, although I think 2 would be better. There is a store, by me, that has one over a 30" tank and he is supporting SPS. I could buy another light but I choose not to at this point in time. It is mounted 10" above water line but I was thinking to go with all 70* optics lowering it to about 8" AWL, making a top canopy for my tank and lining it in reflective aluminum.
Here is a FTS with it at 75%. Please let me know what you think still! BTW I have since rearranged rock work and coral placement..
IMO First we should slow down, you're talking about changing optics and lowering the fixture, when you're running at 50% for about 45 minutes per day and that's going through a glass top. I hope that doesn't sound harsh, I don't mean it to. I'm just trying to point out you have a lot of options here that don't depend on much effort or expense. And IMO if you don't maximize and figure out what you have now you can't know what you need.
Yes I have one light over my 65G. I was told I only needed one if I wasn't planning on SPS which I don't. It is mounted length wise with the length of the tank.
I think you can get by with 1 fixture, as long as you keep it in mind when placing corals. I have 4 units over a 250 DD (5' long) and it's plenty, I could probably get by with 3, and I ran it with 2 for a short time and all was fine. All that said 2 would be better.
Here is the lighting program as best as I can remember:
8:20am 25%w 28%B ramp 1 hour
9:45am 33%w 38%B ramp 1.5 hours
11:45am 45%w 50%b ramp 2 hours
2:30 pm 35%w 40%B ramp 2 hours
5:15pm 20%w 26%B ramp 1 hours
6:30pm 0%w 5%B ramp 1 hour
I'd start by moving to something like this:
8:20am 30%w 33%B ramp 1 hour
9:45am 35%w 40%B ramp 1 hour
11:45am 45%w 50%b ramp 1 hour
2:00 pm 55%w 60%b ramp 1 hour
3:30 pm 45%w 50%b ramp 1 hour
5:30 pm 35%w 40%B ramp 2 hours
7:15pm 30%w 33%B ramp 1 hours
8:30pm 0%w 5%B ramp 1 hour
This raises all of it and gives you a little punch up, but for less than 1 hour and on the lower levels moving from 30% to 35% probably isn't going to effect much as either is still probably pretty low on the par meter. If your corals look the same or better then after a week, I'd open the "55 60" time frame to 2 hours. If they look better still you could try inserting another program at 65 and 70 for an hour in the middle of the 2 hours.
Just some ideas.
Hint, if I remember using the AI controller, it's easier if you skip every other programming point (so start with 1 3 5 7 9 ...) this will allow you to input an event between 2 others without having to redo all the programming. You may still have to modify a coupl of other to accomodate, but you don't have to styart completely over.
HTH
