Pool Lights with Dark Pool Finish Question

[hollywoodfrodo]

Our build is starting this week (will start a New Construction thread soon) and we're starting to make the final decisions. We want a dark pool surface - our pool is going to be 4'6" so not too deep. Originally, we were thinking the darkest of the quartzscapes surfaces - Curacao Night (can be seen here: QuartzScapes® Caribbean Series | National Pool Tile Group ). We like the way the water looks with the dark finish for sure.

However, now my spouse is expressing some concern that having a dark surface may diminish the effect of the lights when we're hanging out by the pool at night since it seems that a lighter surface would be more reflective of the light and a darker surface would absorb more light.

Our pool is fairly small. It's 18' at it's widest and about 30' at longest, but it's a free form, not a rectangle so it's smaller than it sounds. It's all the one depth - 4'6". The design calls for 2 Pentair IntelliBrite Color LED Lights.

So - thoughts? Experiences? Suggestions?

 

[HmnRcn]

I have the Tahoe Blue plaster with only two Intellibrite lights. Mine is not as dark as yours but it is free form of about the same size. Should give you a rough idea.

Just something else to think about. How warm do you like your pool in the summer? Our neighbor has the same Tahoe Blue that we chose and last summer their water temp got up to about 93* when we had a heat wave. The darker the color, the warmer it will keep the water.

Here is one more pic during the day for reference on how dark the Tahoe Blue is.

 

[hollywoodfrodo]

Thanks for the pics - I did scour the forums for pics as those help the most. We're not too worried about temperatures. We live in SoCal not too far from the ocean so temps are pretty moderate here - we'll have a few days that get up to the high 80's or low 90's but only a few. Generally it's in the 70's year round with occasional drops into the 60's or jumps into the low 80's.

We love the look of a dark finish pool, especially since our pool will be fairly shallow. Just want to make sure we don't lose the affect at night of the lights, not just for swimming, but when hanging out around the pool and just having the pool for atmosphere...

 

[Perpetual summer]

We also like the dark color, ours is fiberglass, if you are using LEDs the colors can be changed from white to a dark magenta. Making it lighter or darker to suit your mood or desires.

 

[HmnRcn]

My pool goes from 3.5ft to 7ft for reference. We are also in So Cal but more inland so our temps get pretty warm all summer.

Like was mentioned above, I can play around with the colors if I want it to be lighter or darker in the pool.

 

[ccasanova]

Ignore the dirty water. Our pool is 12’3” x 28’ (not counting tanning ledge) and constant 5’ depth. The 6 Jandy leds light it up nicely. I think they are ~18” below the surface. We preferred multiple smaller lights to evenly illuminate the pool. Ours is medium gray fiberglass. The less are great as they have many color options to suit your pool color and personal tastes.

 

[Dan-H]

I have a 33 x 16 free form pool ( click on renovation link in my sig for some pics ) with dark plaster and one IntelliBrite 5G. Deep end is 7 foot and there is plenty of light when the colors are light blue / light green. The deep purple and red is pretty dark, perhaps some would call it spooky.

With two lights it should be plenty bright even with a dark finish.

 

[textommyboy]

Here's a link to our pool at night with three LED lights: 1st Pool Build - Freeport, TX - Page 5. Our plaster isn't as dark as yours but hopefully this will give you an idea of how the various LED colors shine on a similarly dark plaster.