I was satisfied with this product. the light quality is bright and crisp. i have always had florescent bulbs, and will say that this light seems superior. sufficiently bright, and good fish colors. the night light ('moon light') feature is cool too, and nice since we like to leave it on in the kitchen when we sleep, to guide us to late night snacks ;) BUT MAKE SURE YOU MEASURE YOUR FILTER! there is only ONE slot in the back and it measures approx 6.5" x 2.5" (measurements i could not find anywhere online!! so hope this helps you). my filter is 7" wide, so i had to take scissors and cut the plastic (kind of hard to do, but i was able to get it with some effort, and maybe scarified the scissors). and ONE hole means no space for a heater (unless you have a fully submersible kind, or dont care about using one, or are fine cutting more holes in the hood). i just dont use a heater, so that didnt bother me. as others mentioned having no spot to feed the fish can be annoying, but really, just lifting the lid (its hinged) is really not a big deal. overall, i considered the problems not that bothersome, and enjoy the light quality enough to ignore the annoyances.
I'm thrilled with the Marineland LED Aquarium Hood 20 by 10; I bought it as a part of an aquarium set up, a birthday present for my son, who just turned eight years old.
Before purchasing this hood my reservation was:
Are the LEDs going to be bright enough?
I think I read a review that said they weren't. Well, I'm quite picky about lighting, so I bought an extra red LED light as a part of a decor feature Hydor Ario Red Volcano Kit (Med)as an extra security: if the brightness of the LEDs was really not up-to-par, at least I would have a secondary light source.
Well, I was happily surprised when I turned on the hood light, which exceeded my expectations in brightness. The white lights are so true and pure and bright. The white light makes each color very clear and bright in the tank. The white light setting is actually too bright for night (I have the tank facing my son's bed).
All LEDs are not created equal, that is for sure. Previously, I purchased a small cylindrical aquarium for my desk; it had LED lights, but they were barely bright enough to fill the tank and barely make enough light to even use as a nightlight.
These lights are quite bright; fine LEDs, no need to worry about that one.
The blue moonlight setting is so unbelievably beautiful for night! I put it on for a soothing nightlight for my son to sleep by. Furthermore, I think it soothes the fish to have blue light at night, too. They need a break from the light, just like they would at night in their natural setting in the wild.
If you haven't switched your tanks to LED lights please note that not only are the lights more beautiful than incandescent, which always seem to have a bit of yellow to them (NOT a good thing when it comes to aquarium lighting) they are also energy hogs. LEDs are low-watt wonders: they produce beautiful, bright light (if built right) and use very little energy, which pays you in the long run. Plus, and this is a BIG PLUS, they don't give off heat, which means far less algae. I mean, CONSIDERABLY LESS.
I only had to change my small LED lit tank ONE time in six months and the water was crystal clear when I changed it. Really. That is a far cry from the old incandescent ones that seem to cloud up every time you turn around. That means CONSIDERABLY less work and more enjoyment from this product.
Combined with the volcano red LED Hydor Ario Red Volcano Kit (Med)decor and the thrilling Sea Serpent decoration, my son now has a unique, gorgeous and fascinating tank to view before he dozes off at night.
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In general I like the clarity and brightness of LED lighting, but I have to admit that I am not sure whether I can say I like it in the fish tank. My old flourescent hood provided a warmer light than this LED hood does, even though the mixing of blue LEDs in with the white was meant to tone down the light. I do like the night or "moonlight" mode which just uses the 3 blue LEDs. This offers my fish a good transitional period between day and complete dark.
At first, I really liked the low-profile look of the hood. I thought it was kind of cool that the whole hood hinged upwards when you opend it and attached directly to the tank instead of just resting on top of it. I quickly came to the conclusion that is not a very cool feature. First off the condensation on the underside of the hood races to the back and runs off. For the most part, it just goes right back into your tank but if you have an over-the-back filter, that means you now have water all over the top of your filter. Also, when you are opening the hood to feed your fish, it drips all over the place. The first time I fed my fish, I had the open food container in the same hand I used to partially prop open the hood and had a bunch of water drip into the container. That really pissed me off considering a small container of food is $12 and I couldn't salvage much. It is just poor design planning.
Also important to note about condensation is if you have hard water in the least bit, you will get deposits on not only the underside of the hood, but the light lens, and possibly the OTB filter. Add to the fact that the light lens is plastic so you cannot scrub hard-water off of it without scratching the hell out of the plastic lens and you have longevity issues. Even if you don't have very hard water, over time you will get deposits, it is just a fact of life in the aquarium hobby. Condensation management for this hood just plain sucks. Maybe if you live in an area where the humidity is very high and you don't condition the air in your house you will not have the kind of condensation issues I am having.
I also don't like the light coverage inside the tank. The edges of the tank are not lit up as they would be with a flourescent bulb spanning the entire length of the tank. Add to this that when you open the hood, the LEDs move away from the water and shine in your face. This design oversight means there is no way to make changes to the tank's contents and see how they look as you make the changes if you are trying to set it up for display. Instead, you have to remove your arm and close the lid to get the visual. As I was changing the tank contents around to make it look the best under the new lighting conditions, this became a pain. I suppose it is a one-time issue.
Also, the break-away/cut-away section on the hood for OTB filter and cords, etc.. seems to be opposite of my previous hoods. I had to completely rearrange the contents of my tank so that I could move the heater and filter and other accessories to take advantage of this hoods setup. I was not a happy camper! I spent a lot of time getting my tak the way I liked it and then had to try and mimic that in a mirrored version to make this hood work. (That should have been my clue to send it back, but I pressed on...)
Finally, there is no way to open the hood in increments. It is either fully open or closed. This means that when doing maintenance, you have to have no lighting in the tank because the LEDs are staring you in the face. I know, just turn them off but then you have to turn them back on and close the lid to see if what you were doing is actually complete.
In summary, I was not impressed. I think with more effort in the design department and more commitment by the manufacturer to develop something that helps to showcase the contents of an aquarium as well as lnot inhibit the ability to maintain the tank, LED lighting has the potnetial to take the hobby by storm. Right now, though, the only bragging rights this product has in my opinion are "First to Market". I would wait before making an LED hood purchase.
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The white LED lights are bright and illuminate the aquarium nicely. The clips fit securely to the aquarium frame and the hinges on the hood snap into the clips. The hood fit nicely into the frame of our 10-gallon aquarium. The handle on the front is easy to grasp and there is a removable piece near it you can take out so you can have a small opening in the hood (about 1" by 2") if you want for easy feeding without opening the hood.
The cutout opening in the back has plenty of room for our Fluval C2 power filter, both when the hood is closed and when it is open.
The LED unit itself is a separate module that snaps into the top of the hood. The switch is on the top of the LED unit slide it all the way to the left for the white day light, all the way to the right for the blue light and to the center if you want to turn it off.
We are very pleased with this hood/light.
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I own two 29 gallon aquariums (30x18x12)and had been using a flat glass versa top and putting a standard strip light that you could pick up from Wal-Mart for under $10 as lighting. I replaced the standard 24 inch bulb in the light strips with Aqueon T-8 Full Spectrum Daylight Fluorescent Lamp bulbs. I used this approach because I was worried about evaporation and glass versa tops hold in water pretty well. This hood does a comparable job, perhaps allows a bit more evaporation. I purchased one of these hoods and instantly decided to purchase another after seeing the difference in lighting.
My 29 gallon aquariums houses juv. African cichlids of various species ranging from dwarf Mbuna to piscivore Haps and these LED lights really pulls out their color. I had to cut out more room in the back of the hood to allow for more "hang on the back" filters because my aquariums are, from a technical standpoint, "overstocked".
LED lighting is in my opinion much better than the Aqueon T-8 Full Spectrum Daylight Fluorescent Lamp bulbs that I had been previously using. These LEDs enhance the blues and yellows of my African cichlids great and produce a clean looking white light that I think looks more natural. That being said, you can purchase some absolutely amazing aquarium specific light bulbs that specialize in various things such as plant growth or specific color enhancement.
A quick Pros and Cons for this product.
Pros:
-Cheap Compared to Other Hoods
-VERY Cheap Compared to Other LED Hoods (some LED hoods I looked at range from $80 to $2,000. YIKES)
-Modifiable Filter Space (use a hand saw to cut out needed room for filters. "Measure twice and cut once")
-Prevents Evaporation Comparable to Glass Versa Top
-Produces Less Algae Due to Light Spectrum
-Really Pulls Out the Colors in Fish (noticeably increased the range of hue in the blues and yellows of my male Aulonocara Baenschi or "Benga")
-Creates a Water Ripple Lighting Effect
-White Light For Day-time
-Blue Light for Night-time (It simulates the moon light and allows you to observe your inhabitants in a night setting)
-Small Removable Insert In Front of Hood to Allow Quick Access Without Having to Open The Hood For Feeding
(hole created is roughly 2inx 3in)
Cons:
-Back-top Corners of the Aquarium Are Not Illuminated Well (this is due to the cone effect used in Aquarium LED lighting)
-More Evaporation Than A Glass Versa Top
-You Get What You Pay For
-Must Be Fully Closed or Fully Open
-Scratch-able Plastic Light Housing (use care and patience when cleaning)
-Bad For Planted Aquariums
-Hinges Are Low Quality
-Blue & White Light Are On The Same Plug
-Not a Lot of Room For Multiple Hang on the Back Filters if You Have an Overstocked Aquarium (easily enough room for a 40-60 gallon rated hang on the back filter)
I hope I provided an unbiased and helpful review. Good luck shopping and as always, have a great day.
-CollegeGuy
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