Hey man I am pretty new myself. On my first grow with CFls, Honestly I had 4 sprouts under CFls 2 horizontal and the other 2 vert I prefer vert myself. My thoughts vertical seems to spread the light instead of focus on a certain point. Really it is personal preference. For the hood idk about that haven't had to use one as of yet, but white verses metal can't be that big of difference. Buy a mirror cut strips and hot glue the, together for 100% reflection. Just my input good luck growing