I bought this hood as a replacement for an old fluorescent hood that I had been using for quite some time. This hood is excellent.

In terms of aesthetics, the hood itself is what you might expect. It is mostly made from black plastic, with a glass pane to protect the light area. My only concern is with the plastic hinges which allow for the front section to be lifted up (for cleaning and feeding). On my old hood, there were very similar hinges that both broke over time. I've only had this product for a little over a week, so I can't comment on its durability yet. It seems overall well made, if not a little flimsy, but we'll see.

Let's talk about LEDs. LEDs are a better choice over fluorescent in nearly every situation, even outside of aquarium keeping. I exclusively use LED bulbs in my house. They last longer, run cheaper, and overall, in my opinion, look "cleaner". With aquariums, upgrading to LEDs is one of the best upgrades available. This product uses them to their full potential. On the underside of the hood, there are two sets of clips for Aqueon's own LED lamps, one of which is included and already installed in the product. There are four different varieties of lamps Aqueon makes:

Day White - Bright white light (one of these is included with the product)
Colormax - Mixes red and white LEDs for a warmer color
Max Blue - Uses blue LEDs for a deep sea look
Beauty Max - Blends several colors for a rich color spectrum

I personally went with two Day White lamps, since one was already included. I may try out the others at a later time. With two, they provide a fair bit of light that should be sufficient for growing low to medium-light plants in a 29-gallon tall aquarium.

While we're still on the topic of LEDs, to my surprise, the hood also includes two single blue LEDs for a night-time moonlight effect. You must use a switch to change from the daylight lamps to the moonlight LEDs, which means you can't put them on a separate timer, but it is still a cool feature that doesn't really seem to be advertised.

The power cord is nice. It actually has a "breakaway" design similar to that found on certain corded video game controllers. For those of you who don't know what I mean, the power cord is actually two segments which attach together. This way, if you pull the hood beyond the reach of its cord, it will simply detach from the other end to prevent the pulling of the wires. This is also a very helpful feature if you want to remove the entire hood. You don't have to drag the whole power cord with it.

The hood also features various perforated cut-out areas for a filter, etc. There are two sizes of cutouts for a HOB filter, which is pretty standard. They are both on the left side. I only needed to punch out the smaller one to fit my filter. There are also two very small slots already cut out on the back for running cords (for heaters, etc.). Finally, there's also a smaller, rounded cutout on the right side, which would likely be used for a canister filter system or a power head, neither of which I use. Of course, being plastic, with the right tools, it wouldn't be difficult to make your own cut-outs as well.

Overall, this product is great. I always feel like hoods in general are a little pricey. I still feel that way about this one, but I'm happy I bought it, and I highly recommend it for anyone else.

Brand	Aqueon
Rating	4.5 (596 ratings)
Price	$65.3
Category	Aquarium Lights

Aqueon Deluxe LED Full Hood - Black - 30"

Description