500 watt or 400 watt pool light?

[Household6]

About to pull the trigger on a replacement for our pool light. Amerlite incandescent 120 volts.
Trying to decide on 300, 400 or 500 watts.
Pool is 20x40, 9 feet deep.
Painted it “Royal Blue” last week.

500 watts is suggested, but I’m not AS interested in the safety aspect of the light as much as I am the ambiance it creates. Probably should do LED, but I can’t justify the cost right now. (Likely will when this bulb blows).
Fear 500 will be too bright, but I’m being discouraged by INYO to do the 400 for no other reason than “500 watts is suggested for your pool size.”
Thoughts?
Wish there was a pool light simulator where you can plug in your pool size, color, and play with the various types and watts of lights to get an idea of what it would look like.

 

[GDN]

Wow - quite the paint job and looks very good.

 

[JRB100]

I would be disappointed with anything less than 500w. I have found a 500w light dimmed to half takes on more of a brown tint, so I would suspect a 300w to do the same; maybe even the 400w. (I hardly ever used my 500w light. Since replacing it with an LED light, I now use it every morning and evening (on a timer). If you get a incandescent 500w, you can attach a dimmer to it for flexibility.

Side note... My 500 and 100 watt lights were 19 years old before replacing with LED.

 

[avspin]

Also, once you buy the housing you can put any size bulb in there. So it's not a big expense to buy 400 if the 500 is too bright or vice versa.

 

[GDN]

For more affordable LED bulbs also look at Halco/J and J Electronics - LXG color changing bulb.

 

[Household6]

Wow - quite the paint job and looks very good.

Thanks SO much!
Husband took last week off work and we patched and repainted.
Now, if Mother Nature would just cooperate and allow paint to cure. Rained buckets last night. Currently under flood advisory until Thurs!
Think I’m going to fill it Friday no matter what.