To make a pool memorable, make it shimmer in the dark. The number of pool lighting options has jumped in recent years, especially with the advent of flexible new light emitting diode (LED) lighting products. The market for diverse led lighting products has been driven by consumer demand for "resort style" looks to their private pools.

1. Add Efficiency:

Older technology like incandescent lighting is still available, still at comparatively low cost. However, incandescent lighting is not where the extra bling to your pool is. LED lighting has become the trendy choice. The trend toward LED lighting is bound to intensify as prices come down and efficiency of LED lighting increases. Current LED lights are 29 percent efficient. A 60 watt lightbulb is only about 2 percent efficient. Florescent bulbs are 11 percent efficient. This means that the level of lighting that required 60 watts in an incandescent bulb, would require only 5 watts in a LED bulb.

2. Power Your Lights with Solar Power:

Many people are replacing their old incandescent spotlight illumination systems with new LED lights. These lights can be installed below the water line or anywhere in the pool area in many different colors, enabling wide flexibility to your creative impulses. LED lights are efficient enough to be powered off the grid with solar energy. Many models of LED lights are attached to small solar panels which charge batteries during the day and can run without further power at night.

3. Replace Spotlights.

LED spotlights can simply replace the incandescent spotlights you have. These spotlights use much less power and are completely compatible with your light receptacles. LED spotlight models that can change colors are available. You can also purchase LED spotlights in any color.

4. Illuminate the Pool from Under Water:

LED underwater lights, like what you can find with the Fiberstars PAL-2000 lights, come with a special sealed water-proof housing which is installed in a niche in the pool wall. To change the lightbulb, like the PAL-2000 replacement color LED pool light or Fiberstars clear lens cover for the light, you remove the housing and replace the bulb and/or cover on dry land. You can also get LED light based fiber optic cable lighting. Fiber optic cable is made of plastic engineered so that lights placed at the end of the cable will be transmitted through the cable with little or no loss through the sides and emerge from the other end of the cable (nearly) as bright as it was when it went in. The principle is called "total internal refraction." If you have fiber optic cable lights, you mount the exit end of the cable under water and the LED that generated the light is in a box on dry land.

5. Produce Water Light Shows:

LED lighting has the advantage of miniaturization. The bulbs are also efficient enough to be battery powered. Many tiny lights can be mounted in all kinds of devices that float or sink in the water. One interesting device is a floating disco light ball. This solar powered light show device is a floating ball that lights up in 7 different patterns that project 10 to 15 feet over the surface of the water. The patterns are randomly cycled keeping the display interesting. It works for up to 6 hours after a day-time charge.

6. Put up a Strip of Lights:

LED hanging lights wired in series like Christmas lights can illuminate your pool area in colorful and interesting ways. These efficient tiny bulbs take little electricity and come in all colors. Strings of fancier looking teardrop shaped bulbs or candle-shaped bulbs that glow in a warm golden color lend a formal look to a pool area, especially illuminating a party.

7. Mark Your Pool Area with LED Tube Or Strip Lights:

Tube lights are tiny LED bulbs mounter in flexible transparent plastic tubes. They come in clear or colors. Tube lights are mostly used for making lines to mark important areas (like the edges of pools). They can be semi-permanently mounted around areas you want marked at night. They come in 32 foot lengths. The lamps last up to 17 years if lit all night.