Lights White, blue and red, what are they for and how important?

[MarcoS]

Hi.

So I have led lights on my aquarium and it can do a 24h cycle of light, where during the day applies several intensity levels of white light, then dawn and dusk uses an orange light and during the night period put's a blue one.

Now, I'm only running the white light 10h a day, but I have no idea if the other two colors are useful or even if I should be running the 24h cycle. My tank have guppies, cat fish, snails, shrimps, plecos and will have plants (only one at the moment).

Can someone fill me in on this light stuff?

 

Thanks in adavance

[Scapexghost]

If you want to get real technical you can research kelvin ratings and PAR, but the basics are:

Plants can only photosynthesize 10-14 hours a day. Therefore, any longer of a photoperiod will only contribute to algae growth.

Plants utilize different colors at different effecacy. The utilize red light well, blue light poorly, and green light almost not at all. However, algae utilizes all colors of light. Therefor, blue light promotes algae growth.

The colors of the light will bring out the same colors of a fish or plant. Red light compliments red fish, blue lights bring out blue fish, etc. A fish that looks meh under one light may look great under another. Your personal prefrence will also affect the color light you prefer.

Having light change gradually rather then suddenly may stress out fish less and promote a healthy circadian rhythm.

 

[MarcoS]

So, white it is! Thank you @Scapexghost

[lefty o]

what youll find is, too many hours of light a day will grow algae, and blue light grows algae like crazy.

[AndEEss]

This is why spectrum matters: