There are a lot of different ways you can light up a pond. You must strike the right balance – finding the right lights and positioning them correctly.
Otherwise, you’ll end up with a pond you can barely see or a beacon for low-flying aircraft. Also, you may end up with half the pond looking great and the other in murky shadow.
That’s why some careful planning is needed.
There are lots of pond lighting options. Hardwired lights don’t rely on you recharging batteries, although installation is a bigger job. There are different locations – edge and floating lights are easiest to manage. Downlights need an anchor point, and submerged lights require a clean pond.
There’s no single answer for the best option for lighting up a pond, so instead, I’ll take you through the different options to consider, including:
- The different types of lights
- Where you can install them
- How to best light up a Koi pond
What Are Different Types Of Pond Lights?
Most pond lights will be low voltage – they don’t need to be high voltage, and they are much safer when running on 12 volts.
But some will be battery-powered, while others will be hardwired. And there are other ‘types’ of light to consider as well.
Hardwired vs Battery Pond Lights
One of the biggest decisions when choosing your pond lights is using hardwired lighting or battery-powered lights.
If you choose hardwired lights, you’re going to need a transformer, since the lights are low voltage. Wiring them straight into the mains will massively overload them, destroying them completely.
A transformer isn’t a massive installation job; once it’s ready, you can wire the lights into it. Of course, you’ll have some considerations on how to bury the wiring, but the results will be satisfyingly neat, and you’ll know that your lights will always work.
Battery-powered lights are, of course, much easier to install. No transformer is needed, and no trenches for wiring.
But you have to keep recharging that battery. The battery life will vary by the quality of the product and battery, but it may be anything from 10 hours to 50 hours on average.
So hardwired lights will need less maintenance from you once installed, but battery-powered lights are a quicker and easier installation job.
Solar Pond Lights
Solar lights offer a mix of both worlds – they don’t need to be hardwired, but in theory don’t need to be manually charged either.
You can get floating solar lights or solar stake lights on the pond’s surface.
They don’t tend to be as bright as lights powered by a battery and aren’t as bright as a hardwired light.
But if your pond gets good sun coverage, they can be a good choice if you want the least maintenance possible.
Dusk Till Dawn Pond Lights
Some lights – both battery-powered and hardwired – have a light sensor that will only turn them on when the ambient light drops below a certain level.
You don’t need your pond lights to be switched on during the day, so these are an excellent option for preserving the battery.
Just be aware that if you have fish in your pond, you shouldn’t leave your pond lights on all night. They need some downtime.
Make sure you can override the sensor and turn them off at night, so they are only on during the dusk hours while you’re enjoying the view of your pond.
Where To Place Pond Lights?
There are four main options for lighting locations around a pond. Each has its pros and cons, and you may prefer a mix of two or more of these rather than just sticking to one.
Submerged Lights
Many pond lights are designed to be installed beneath the surface, either casting a light across the pond or acting as an uplight.
These are, by some distance, the best option if you want to fully illuminate the water of your pond.
They’ll let you see deep into your pond, whereas other lights will diminish once the actual light beam hits the pond’s surface.
However, that’s not always a good thing – submerged lights will highlight if your pond is murky and has a lot of moss.
There’s also the chance that the light can be covered in moss, preventing it from working correctly.
Submerged lights also need the most maintenance since they need cleaning and are the most likely to break over time.
If you choose battery-powered ones, it’s more effort to retrieve them to recharge them. Plus, you’ll spook any fish you own each time you reach in.
Submerged lights are a great choice if you’re keeping your pond clean and hardwiring them.
Floating Lights
Floating lights sit on the surface of the water. Unfortunately, they can’t be hardwired since you can’t run a wire along the pond’s surface (technically, you could, but it would look terrible).
They can run on a regular battery or be solar-powered. Unfortunately, solar lights are less bright, and you rely on good sunlight coverage to charge them.
Floating lights will cast light into the water below and around them. However, because they’re less powerful than wired lights, they may not illuminate all the way up to the pond edge.
You can add multiple lights, but too many, and you end up with the lights dominating the look.
Edge Lights
Edge lights are designed to be installed around the pond’s edge, pointing into the water.
These are popular because they can be battery/solar powered or hardwired, and you have more control over where to install them.
Be wary of using stake lights on the soft ground close to the pond edge – the wet ground won’t support lights, and they could fall in.
It’s best to install them further from the pond edge or on solid ground, like any rockery, where they won’t move.
They provide good coverage of your pond, lighting up the edges and the water surface. However, they won’t penetrate into the water too deep.
Downlights
Downlights are lights placed high above the pond, shining down. They can take the form of string lights or more targeted floodlights.
Because downlights are further from the pond, they tend to cast the most natural light – it looks like gentle moonlight.
However, installing them is more complicated since you need anchor points. Trees are ideal if they’re close to the pond. Otherwise, you’ll need to install your own points first.
Floodlights must be hardwired, but string lights can be either solar-powered or wired.
How To Illuminate A Koi Pond?
If you have a Koi pond, you’re going to want to be able to see your fish and enjoy them. However, you need to be careful.
Pond lights do affect fish – they enjoy a proper day/night cycle, and the brightness and heat can bother your fish. LED lights don’t cause heat issues, but older bulb types do.
Fish also don’t like to feel exposed, so lighting up your entire pond can distress them.
Plus, you don’t want to advertise your Koi to predators nearby or even poachers – they’re a valuable fish, after all!
If you want to light up a Koi pond, provide some sheltered areas. Use LEDs that don’t warm the water, and make sure lights are on a timer to give your fish enough time to sleep.
Final Words
Every pond is different – there are various sizes, shapes, and features of a pond. So how you illuminate them will be very specific to your own pond.
But many options are available, including how to power them and where to position them for the best look.
Hardwired lights are generally the better option unless you have excellent sunlight at all times to justify solar lighting.
Battery-powered lights are effective, but changing the batteries/recharging them can be a pain.
What pond lights have you installed, and where have you positioned them?