First time testing

[JayA]

This is my very first time testing at home. Previously I tested at LFS and always told things are fine, excepting when I overfed and nitrates/nitrites were high. Well... I am sure I am overfeeding again. I have an approx 6 month old AIO 20gallon IM tank with 5 hardy fish, a very small cuc, an anemone, and a few soft corals. Generally things look happy in my tank. I do have what I believe is cyano - smallish amount on the sandbed and a few rocks. My SG is consistently 1.026. I am not sure what I should be testing for, or striving for numbers-wise? Here are my first tests: please chime in. I am going to feed only 1/2 as much for the next week and recheck nitrate next week (assuming I am on the right track with that?)
6/29/2021
pH=8.0
nitrate=50ppm
Phosphate =0.25ppm
Alkalintiy= 10.9dKH

 

[landlubber]

well if nutrients are your issue then you're going to be shooting for getting that phosphate below .10 ppm but do not bottom them out to zero. Your nitrate will likely be a little slower to fall but should be sitting between 2-5ppm.
These are just the general recommendations as many have higher numbers than these with successful tanks. Bioload in the form of fish, coral and inverts play a large part in what works for one tank and not for another.
My last piece of advice is to do it all as slow as you possibly can as things can be much worse if you rush.