Lighting for Koi pond

One of the considerations when designing your pond is Pond Lighting: Should you include underwater lights, type of lights to use, locations of light points, is it good for the Koi? What about safety, since electricity and water should not mix?

I did not use any under-water lightings for my first 2 ponds. For my first pond, I did not think of lighting up the pond before it was built. When I tried shining a spotlight on my first pond, the occupants got a fright of their life. Some of my Koi though they were flying fish and 2 landed out of the pond. Fortunately, I have quite dense plantings around the pond and they were not badly injured.

This stopped me from shining any more light on them. It also stopped me from including underwater lighting or spot lights for my second pond.

Later I found out that using less powerful halogen lights and/or underwater lights could be done without panicking the Koi.  On advice from my pond builder, halogens lights were fitted just above the water for my third pond.

By positioning the lights just above the water, it created a very nice “dancing light” effect when the lights are reflected off the water surface and onto a wall. In addition, overhead halogen spot lights are used to light up key pond features, e.g. water plants and water features to give a very nice resort feel to the home.

The halogen lights (12V, 50W) come with step-down transformers, so there is no danger of high voltage electricity coming into contact with water.  Water-resistance casing are used to house these transformers and also the 230V AC electricity source.

However, there was one problem which I encountered. Since my lights are mounted just above the water surface, some even half-submerged and/or positioned outdoors, my builder recommended halogen lights designed for underwater use. The bulbs burned out within a few months due to overheating. So, I have to change the type of lights or use them fully submerged in the pond. I choose the latter for now.

 

For more information on pond lightings or to buy online, click here.