If you've read some of the reviews about this product, you probably came away a bit confused. I know I was. There were reviews that said it was cheap and didn't work to other comments that said it was a great product. So which ones were true, I thought. Only one way to find out; I purchased one. Here is what I found out. This review is for the 20-inch LED hood and are specific to this hood size. Bright lights -------------- As far as adequate lighting, there is more than enough to fill up a 10-gallon tank. I don't know why others have complained about the lack of lighting. I found it quite bright when compared to my old incandescent lights, and the slight falloff of brightness in the corners is just nitpicking, in my opinion. It is barely perceptible. Plants like it --------------- As far as being good for plants, the LED lamps are doing a fine job providing enough lighting for them to grow. None of them have died, and if anything, appear to be as healthy or better than with incandescent lighting. Cheap or not? ------------- Some reviews said the hood was cheaply made. On this point,this all depends on what you consider cheap. The hood itself is well made, but it isn't of the thickest plastic that I usually expect in aquarium hoods. The fit was just right, but the hood did not fit flush on top of the fish tank. I did a little adjustment with the clips that attached the light to the hood and it straightened out nicely. Filter panels -------------- The opening on the back of the hood, for hang on the back filters, measures about 6 and 7/8s inches. There was enough room for my filter plus a little space left over to place my aquarium heater next to it. For filters that are wider, you will need to cut or saw the plastic to make the openings wider for your use. If you've got an air stone at the back of the aquarium like I do, you'll see a significant amount of water splash onto the back of the hood. This didn't look too good for the light switch so all I did was to cut a piece of filter foam to cover the exposed hood area area. Problem solved. You can also cut a piece of stiff clear plastic from a package to do this as well. If you've got a water filter that splashes water upon its reentry into the aquarium, a similar solution will also fix this. LED protection --------------- There is a little plastic shield that covers the LED light, and I found that this completely shields the LED lights from any water that splashes onto this area. The light was securely snapped into place, and when the hood is opened, it does not fall out as others have indicated. But it will fall out if the hood is opened at a 90-degree angle. The hood can be propped up with a small spoon or fork if you need to clean or vacuum the tank, and it's really no big deal to lift the hood to feed your fish. It only takes a micro-calorie to do this. There is a little slide out door that you can remove to leave a little opening to feed your fish, but I have left it on to make the hood look more uniform. Clean and healthy design ------------------------- The main reason why I purchased this hood was because of two reasons. I suspected that my old incandescent hood was slowly leeching bad metals into the water because the metal parts were rusting from the moisture, and the excessive algae growing underneath the hood was really unsightly. The LED hood is free of metal parts, and it is healthier for my tropical fish. I also like the low profile design of the hood. It makes the tank look sleeker. Easy assembly; read the directions ----------------------------------- Setting up the hood on my fish tank took about a half an hour because I wanted to make sure I understood the directions on how to attach the hood clips at the back of the tank. You actually have to angle the clips down at a 45-degree angle and then lift up so the other side of the clip can attach underneath the aquarium frame. There are two sizes of clips so make sure you use the right ones. Once this is done, you have to apply pressure to the joints of the hood, on top of the clips, in order for the two to snap together. No a whole lot of force is needed, but you do have to angle your push so that it is directed exactly downward on the clips. The instructions saved me a lot of hassle, so you may want to read them carefully. One thing that should be noted is that the opening at the back of the hood, for a HOB (hang of back) filter is about 6.5 inches wide. If you place an aquarium heater in this space alongside the filter, you'll just have enough room for both. But if you have a larger HOB filter, you'll need to cut away some of the plastic to accommodate a wider filter. I used a Dremel-like tool to cut away the extra plastic and a Fluval C2 filter now fits nicely in this area. It's too bad the manufacture didn't allow for snap-off sections to make the filter opening larger. LED Performance ---------------- Switching over to LED from incandescent was a bit of a shock as the light spectrum of LEDs is definitely on the bluer side as opposed to incandescent bulbs which are more yellow. This lighting really makes everything pop in the fish tank, but since it is a bit weak on the red spectrum, reds and yellows don't come out as much. The blue moonlight feature is an extra bonus and I've watched my fish during the night under this lighting. They seem to like it, although I haven't left it on all night yet. After about a week of getting used to the LED lights, I prefer these over my old lights. Family members are envious of how the tank looks in comparison with their regular light bulb setups. They've noticed that the tank now looks very sharp and "professional," whatever that means, lol. You may not like the bluish-green tint of these lights, so take this into consideration if you are thinking about buying this unit. Conclusion ----------- This hood is a great bargain, and only time will tell if it is long lasting as well. But for what I paid for it, which is essentially the same price I would have had to pay for a similar incandescent set up with those horrific rusting metal parts, I would say that this LED hood is well worth it for the health of my fish and the overall look of the tank. Plus it uses less energy and puts out virtually no heat--a plus when the weather gets hot. This hood isn't perfect, but for what it does, it definitely is a good aquarium hood. This hood works for me, but YMMV. Just understand that this is a bargain hood, and don't expect $100 features from it. If you've got that down, you should be OK with it.
