[Tex/LaTex] Vertical space between caption and main text

captionschemstylefloatrowfloatsspacing

I am trying to adjust the vertical space between my captions and the main body of text below it. It is likely to be packages interfering with each other, but I am not sure which.

Herbert suggested including these commands into my preamble, and I have removed the caption package completely as it seems to be superseded by the floatrow package included with chemstyle.

 \captionsetup{
      justification=centering,
      singlelinecheck=false,
      font=small,labelfont=bf,labelsep=space}
    \floatsetup{captionskip=6pt}
    \renewcommand\FBbskip{20pt}

But it seems as though \FBbskip is only having an effect on the first image float. I have updatd the MWE below so that this is clear, using \FBbskip at 20pt so you can clearly see the difference in vertical space between the two schemes.

Also. I am still unclear what these settings do: 

\captionsetup{skip=5cm}
\addtolength\belowcaptionskip{20.0cm}
\addtolength\abovecaptionskip{20.0cm}

Commenting them out doesn't seem to have an effect, and setting them to extreme values doesn't seem to do anything either? Should I just remove them?

MWE using Herbert's solution, hopefully you can see the difference in vertical space surrounding the two schemes?

 \documentclass[11 pt]{report}

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{bera}  
\usepackage[scaled]{berasans} 
\usepackage[scaled]{beramono} 
\usepackage{textcomp} 

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} 
\usepackage[english]{babel}

\usepackage[left=1in, right=1in, top=.75in, bottom=.5in, includeheadfoot,   headheight=13.6pt]{geometry}
\usepackage{setspace}

\usepackage{achemso}

\usepackage{graphicx} 
\usepackage{times,mathptmx}
\usepackage[version=3]{mhchem}

\usepackage[runs=2]{auto-pst-pdf}
\usepackage{chemstyle}
\usepackage{chemnum}
\usepackage{chngcntr}

\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{sectsty}
\usepackage{balance} 
\usepackage{lastpage}
\usepackage[toc, page, header]{appendix} 
\usepackage{fancyhdr} 
\usepackage[plain]{fancyref} 

 \captionsetup{
  justification=centering,
  singlelinecheck=false,
  font=small,labelfont=bf,labelsep=space}
\floatsetup{captionskip=6pt}
\renewcommand\FBbskip{20pt}

\linespread{1.8} %1.5 line spacing

\parindent=0pt 
\parskip=8pt 

\renewcommand{\captionfont}{\sffamily}{\small}
\renewcommand{\captionlabelfont}{\bf}
\renewcommand\thescheme{\arabic{scheme}}
\counterwithout{scheme}{chapter}
\renewcommand\thefigure{\arabic{figure}}
\counterwithout{figure}{chapter}

\begin{document}
\captionsetup{skip=5cm}
\addtolength\belowcaptionskip{20.0cm}
\addtolength\abovecaptionskip{20.0cm}
\onehalfspace


\chapter[Introduction]{Introduction}
\chaptermark{Introduction}
\label{ch:introduction} % label for referring to chapter in other parts of the thesis
\section[Importance]{Importance}\label{C1:Intro}

Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text     Text Text Text 

\begin{scheme}[ht]
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.2]{cat}
\caption{}
\label{scheme}
\end{scheme}

Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text     Text Text Text Text Text 
Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text     Text Text Text 

\begin{scheme}[ht]
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.2]{dog}
\caption{}
\label{scheme}
\end{scheme}

Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text     Text Text Text Text Text 

 \end{document}

Best Answer

Package chemscheme loads itself package floatrow which controls the space above/below the caption with own settings:

\floatsetup{captionskip=10pt}%% space between figure and caption
\renewcommand\FBaskip{20pt}% space before float
\renewcommand\FBbskip{20pt}% space after float

You are looking for the latter. However, in your example the font setting is a bit weird. You load several font packages which overwrites each preceding one. Here an example with a correct font setting for bera:

\documentclass[11pt]{report}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{bera}  
\usepackage[scaled]{berasans} 
\usepackage[scaled]{beramono} 
\usepackage{textcomp} 

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} 
\usepackage[english]{babel} 

\usepackage[left=1in, right=1in, top=1in, bottom=1in, includeheadfoot,    headheight=13.6pt]{geometry}
\usepackage{setspace}

\usepackage{graphicx} 

\usepackage{chemstyle}
\usepackage{chemnum}
\usepackage{chngcntr}

\captionsetup{
  justification=centering,
  singlelinecheck=false,
  font=small,labelfont=bf,labelsep=space}
\floatsetup{captionskip=1cm}
\renewcommand\FBbskip{20pt}


\parindent=0pt 
\parskip=8pt 

\renewcommand\thescheme{\arabic{scheme}}
\counterwithout{scheme}{chapter}
\renewcommand\thefigure{\arabic{figure}}
\counterwithout{figure}{chapter}

\begin{document}
\captionsetup{skip=1cm}
\addtolength\belowcaptionskip{2cm}
\addtolength\abovecaptionskip{2cm}

\onehalfspace
\chapter[Introduction]{Introduction}
\chaptermark{Introduction}
\label{ch:introduction} % label for referring to chapter in other parts of the thesis
\section[Importance]{Importance}\label{C1:Intro}

Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text     Text Text Text 

\begin{scheme}
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.2]{cat}
\caption{foo bar baz}
\label{scheme}
\end{scheme}

How I adjust the space between this text and the caption above??Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text  Text Text Text Text 

\end{document}
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