Best hood for Axolotl's?

[Jonjey]

Hi there, I'll be getting my first Axolotl in a few days and had some questions about aquarium lids and what would be best for keeping the tank cool. My tank currently sits at about 72 degrees.
I've watched a lot of videos and read a lot of things on here about how great egg crate lighting panels are for hoods of an axolotl aquarium. My current hood is a thin plastic hood with led lights in a strip along the middle. I was thinking of getting a small USB fan and attaching it to the side of my tank and pointing it down at the water for evaporation, and figured egg crate would work well with that. But then I thought about my current lid and how awesome the LED's in it are (I have two epic cave/tunnels for them to hide under made out of real rock.). I wouldn't be keeping LED's on all the time, but I do like having them, so I thought about cutting my current lid up and just taking the strip of led's attached to the plastic and putting that strip across the top of the egg crates.
But then I thought if I were to chop my current lid up like that, why not just drill a bunch of holes in my current lid and just continue using it?
So basically my question is would a plastic lid with lots of holes drilled through it (decent sized holes, not big enough for an axolotl to hop out of but big enough to let a good amount of air out) be just as effective as the egg crate in this situation?

Also, for future reference, if someone were to do an uncovered tank with an axolotl in it, about how far should the top of the water be from the top of the tank?

 

[michael]

Screened lids would probably be better. Holes would be fine. I never cover any of my axolotl tanks. I fill them to the top. This does not guarantee that your axolotl will not jump out.

 

[Boomsloth]

My water is kept maybe 2in from the top of the tank. I use screen lids just because right now their tank is close enough next to my bed (college dorm) where they can and have splashed me while I sleep.

 

[Jonjey]

Okay great. One more thing, are "breeder" tanks better for Axolotl's? I hear they're wider and better for bottom dwellers so I was thinking it might be good to get one down the road.

 

[Boomsloth]

Breeder tanks have more of a footprint which means more room on the bottom. Since they don't swim around like fish they will appreciate the room to walk around. But really you can get a taller tank and add more vertical spots for them to walk and climb on like driftwood/plants/rocks and they will be equally happy. Axolotls just need room to walk around whether on the bottom or climbing to the top.