mounting arm LEDs and a glass top

[aws2266]

Right now I've got two bar LED's that don't fit very well on top of my 125g and I've been thinking of moving to a puck type light and mounting it by an arm. I currently have glass tops rather than mesh, there are five cats in my house and a couple are rather large. This is for a FOWLR so I'm not worried about coral growth, but light for the fish and to make everything look good. Does anyone notice a decline in how the water, fish, etc look when mounting lights so far away from the glass as opposed to super close with bar lights?

 

[blaxsun]

If you don't have corals simply gear the lights towards what looks best.

 

[oreo54]

Right now I've got two bar LED's that don't fit very well on top of my 125g and I've been thinking of moving to a puck type light and mounting it by an arm. I currently have glass tops rather than mesh, there are five cats in my house and a couple are rather large. This is for a FOWLR so I'm not worried about coral growth, but light for the fish and to make everything look good. Does anyone notice a decline in how the water, fish, etc look when mounting lights so far away from the glass as opposed to super close with bar lights?

Generally the led lens angle compensates for what you are worried about.
Most puck style lights use 90 degree lenses.
Bars are natively lenses ( on the diode) at 120 degrees. Well normally.
Brand should tell you their delivery angle.

You'll get more changes in look via different spectrums or different intensities.