Aquarium Hood Question? do I need a hood? PLEASE ANSWER!?
I have a 30 Gallon aquarium (125 Liter) I was wondering if i Need a Hood or not?
I have a Lighting unit hanging over my aquarium so do i need a hood?
My Only worry is pollution via Cleaning Products?
is that a problem? or Can I have an Open Top Aquarium?
PLEASE ANSWER!
Yes a hood would be great because:
1. Fish jump, and you never know when. I’ve seen a guppy, zebra danios, cyclid, goldfish etc jump out of tanks in from of my eyes before. Why not protect them? 
2. Pollution like you said. Air freshener, cooking’s smoke, bugs, or just dust.. etc… it good to protect
3. I’ve had tanks in a cold house before in winter, with and without hood. The one with hood was able to keep up with the desired temperature much easier. Maybe you’ll save a bit on heat, while keeping temperature more consistent.
4. Water leaves much faster without a hood that traps a bunch of the evaporated water.
5. Hood reduces noise of the water.
7. Much harder to accidentally drop something in it (a rusty screw driver or a can of coke, your laptop…).
Is it normal for my heater to produce condensation on the top of the hood of my aquarium?
All fish have the ability to jump, especially those like betta’s and corydora’s that need to breathe air once in a while to be healthy. I highly recommend a hood, preferably one that covers every inch of open space.
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i would recommend a hood like you say airfresheners and cleaning products would be toxic to your fish
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get a glass canopy http://www.petsolutions.com/default.aspx?ItemId=47433160&EID=47433300&SID=FROOGLE
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hood light is way better, it would also help with the cleaning products, though your choice
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I always have a hood on my fish tank not only so the fish don’t jump out but to keep the warmth in, things from falling in or my cats playing with the fish.
When I was redoing the flooring in the room with my fish tank, I took all the fish out, put them in a 5gal pail and put them in a different room and put the tank hood on top. I have gaps in the hood where the hoses, heater, and filter sit on the edge of the tank and I had one of the gaps open over the pail for air hoses to go into. The next day when I was putting the fish back in one of my Australian Rainbows was missing, I looked in the room where the pail was and it was on the floor just behind where the pail was sitting, dead. It must of jumped out through the 1"x1" hole in the hood during the night.
Since your lights are above the tank you can get Plexiglas glass and cut it to size so it lets in as much light as possible and keeps the fish in. Most fish could jump out of a open topped tank.
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Yes a hood would be great because:
1. Fish jump, and you never know when. I’ve seen a guppy, zebra danios, cyclid, goldfish etc jump out of tanks in from of my eyes before. Why not protect them?
2. Pollution like you said. Air freshener, cooking’s smoke, bugs, or just dust.. etc… it good to protect
3. I’ve had tanks in a cold house before in winter, with and without hood. The one with hood was able to keep up with the desired temperature much easier. Maybe you’ll save a bit on heat, while keeping temperature more consistent.
4. Water leaves much faster without a hood that traps a bunch of the evaporated water.
5. Hood reduces noise of the water.
7. Much harder to accidentally drop something in it (a rusty screw driver or a can of coke, your laptop…).
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Whether you get a hood or not depends on what you’re keeping and what you intend to do.
Most times, you should have a hood on top of your tank – as others have mentioned, some fish have the ability to jump occasionally, especially at feeding time or if they’re getting picked on by other specimens. On the other hand, if you have a very peaceful tank and are trying to grow a lot of plants, you may not want a hood. If your "lighting unit" is a high-watt gadget intended to help grow your plants – those put off a lot of heat, in which case a plastic hood would be impractical and you’d want either a glass top or no hood at all.
My answer is get a hood unless you’ve got metal halide or compact flourescent lights hanging overhead. A glass top would be ideal for a such a tank but those can get expensive, especially if you need to have one made custom for your tank.
Good luck.
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You should have a hood; it prevents fish from jumping out and it slows down evaporation. But you don’t really need a "hood" you just need something to cover the tank, a piece of glass will work well. I don’t think cleaning products will be a big deal, since you shouldn’t use them near your aquarium anyway, so if you want to risk not having a top, you can.
Another good idea is to add a floating plant like water hyacinth. It makes your tank look super good, and since you have hanging lights it will work out well. And it flowers
so your tank will look GORGEOUS!
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It is best to have a hood; both for lighting the tank better, and protection for the fish, as many types of fish will jump out of the water.
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I just use a plain sheet of glass on top of my tanks. Lights can either be sat on top of the glass, or hung above the tank. The glass lid is not a big bulky think like a full light hood.
Advantages of having some sort of lid.
Fish dont jump out.
Water evaporates slower.
Stuff doesn’t fall into the tank.
You dont HAVE to have a lid, but it is good to have some sort of cover.
Ian
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