basic mini split operation

It's just the fan speed being effected.
Those units use so little power your not going to be saving much by turning it down at night.

it just occurred to me (I'm kinda slow sometimes) that the outdoor and indoor unit can run independent and perhaps the indoor unit is only circulating the air.sound right?

That's right.

ok, the indoor unit is just a few inches off the ceiling and I am sitting like 5 feet below that so the temp up there is about 4 degrees higher.do you think it would be worth it to use a ceiling fan on a solid state controller to slow it down to push that air down.I guess my worry with that is would it stir the air to much causing my unit to run more. thanks joecaption

Most have a setting so the vanes move can move in an up and down direction so the air is sort of "swept" instead of just blowing out in one direction.

yes it does, for up,down and side to side.stationary or motorized sweep.The tech suggested pointing towards the largest area of the room and downward as heat rises.Makes since to me but I was just curiuos if its worth trying to get the warm air down from the ceiling even though its only 8'.