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Month: December 2018

Published on Leave a comment on Review: Can the Marineland LED hood grow plants?

The Marineland LED Light Hood for Aquariums, Day & Night Light is pretty popular as an affordable combination light/hood in aquarium starter kits. I have used the 20" x 10" size on a planted 10 gallon tank for several months. While the light is certainly not the brightest LED, it is just enough to grow some low light plants. In this review I will cover some of the pros and cons of this hood.

Planted 10 Gallon Lit by Marineland LED Hood
Planted 10 Gallon Lit by Marineland LED Hood

Pros:

  • Hinged hood design

The hinges that come with this hood allow it to be lifted up to feed your fish or maintain the aquarium without fully removing the lid. I use a small hook in the shelf above my tank to hold the lid open when I am working in the tank.

Marineland Hood Open
Marineland Hood Open

  • Low wattage LED

The integrated LED light bar uses about half the power of a traditional fluorescent tube light, and should have a much longer service life. This light puts out a natural color temperature (around 5500 K according to Marineland) that does a great job of showcasing fish.

Yellow Tiger Endlers under Marineland LED
Yellow Tiger Endlers under Marineland LED

  • Integrated light / hood combo

Having the light bar nested into the hood keeps light from escaping horizontally across the top of your aquarium. This gives it a nice sleek look as all of the light from the LEDs is directed down into the tank.

Planted 10 Gallon Lit by Marineland LED Hood
Planted 10 Gallon Lit by Marineland LED Hood

Cons:

  • Comparatively low light level

While the output on these Marineland LED hoods will keep low light plants alive, it is not anywhere near what you would get out of a more expensive LED fixture. I have been able to grow rotala rotundifolia, anubias nana, and cryptocoryne wendtii under this light, but everything grows very slowly. Since the LEDs are all concentrated in the center of the hood, the light level drops off significantly on the outsides edges of the aquarium.

  • Lack of customization

These hoods are difficult to cut or modify for different styles of filtration because they are made from a thick plastic. You also cannot swap out the light for one that stretches across the whole tank. In my opinion, this is the biggest drawback to their design.

Planted 10 Gallon with Marineland LED Hood
Planted 10 Gallon with Marineland LED Hood

Bottom Line

The Marineland LED Light Hood for Aquariums, Day & Night Light is a good affordable option for aquarists who are looking for an all-in-one light and canopy design. I would not recommend it if you are interested in growing high light plants; but if you want a light that will showcase your fish and keep some plants alive, it is a nice looking option.


Published on Leave a comment on Easy DIY Filter Media Basket for a Sump
Mechanical Filter Media Basket
Mechanical Filter Media Basket

This mechanical media basket holds filter floss pads and Polyfil where water enters the sump on my 90 gallon rainbowfish aquarium. It is made from a plastic tupperware container that I up-cycled from a package of lunch meat (after washing thoroughly). I drilled about 30 holes into the bottom of the container using both a 1/8" and 1/4" bit to spread the flow evenly across the tray.

This is a modification to the original design for my DIY 20 gallon sump. The container fits perfectly into the larger basket that houses a coarse sponge and previously held my mechanical media. A smaller media tray keeps the flow of water concentrated into a reduced surface area, which allows me to use less mechanical media. It also facilitates changing the media, because it is easily removed and replaced, as shown in the video below.

The bottom of the basket is stuffed with Polyfil which is then covered by a piece of filter pad media that is cut slightly larger than the aperture of the container. The clear sides allow me to see when the media is dirty and needs to be changed. This is a dirt cheap DIY  mechanical filtration solution for a sump; I covered the use of Polyfil and some other cheap DIY filtration solutions here.