New tank, stinks, algae....

[dr_sudz]

Wow, as was stated this is very very very important. STOP MESSING WITH THE FILTER!! You should have no reason to open the filter after just a month. just leave things alone and it will get better. The plants you have can survive 3 days in the dark. The bulb may not be sufficient for your plants. You want a bulb that has a 10,000K rating as this is closest to natural sunlight.

 

[sunshinehippy]

There are 2 light units in the aquarium (one at the back and one at the front) as it is a corner unit. They are GLO T5 high output lighting, so i would find it hard to believe that they are not sufficient for my very few easy plants.

I must admit this is the first time I have used an external and was doing the same routine as with the old internal filter on my other 125 Litre tank but I guess these dont need as much maintenance as the smaller ones.