Blue vs White Light

[Office_Shredder]

Hi,

My girlfriend and I recently got a 10 gallon tank and a couple (now up to 4) glofish for the tank. We originally had a glofish tank but it was too small so upgraded to a regular 10 gallon tank; I recently bought a couple blue bulbs to get the glo effect since it doesn't show up under the white light.

The blue bulbs definitely work, but I'm worried about just using them for lighting from now on. They aren't as bright as white light (at least as far as my human eyes can tell) and am wondering if they give enough light for the fish to have an adequate day/night cycle. Should I switch back to the white bulbs and only break out the blue bulbs for special occasions? We only have one top for the tank at the moment so switching is mildly inconvenient. Or will the fish be OK with the blue light as their primary lighting source?

I was thinking maybe we could open up the shades on a window near them for extra light during the day but have also heard that can cause a lot of algae growth.

 

[maxwellag]

You could try having both white and blue lights on during the day, and having the white turn off at night. This would simulate moonlight, and the glofish would probably still look bright during the day.

 

[Office_Shredder]

Thanks max. We actually just got a blue led airstone (the glofish one) and it lights up the tank really good for them so I think we're going to try the white lights with the blue LEDs in the gravel for now.