Cyano/ulva/dinos/GHA - 0 phosphate

[ConchLife]

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can help please. I'm battling a number of bacteria/algae issues and I'm not sure how to move forward. I've done a lot of research but I don't seem to be able to find consistent answers.

I've got what I think is cyano on my sandbed and I've just seen what looks like a dino on my rock flower anemone.

I've seen GHA come and go (although I think I still have some on the sandbed).

I had sea lettuce (ulva lactuta) growing all over my rockwork. This week, I took the rocks out, picked it off manually, used a pipette to put 3% hydrogen peroxide on the areas, left it for 3-4 mins, rinsed off with saltwater and then returned the rocks to the tank which seems to have killed that off.

Info...

52L Fluval Evo. No skimmer. Been running for about 3 and a half months.

2 small clownfish
1 Tailspot Blenny
Fire shrimp
Strawberry lipped conch
Tiny pincushion urchin
2 trochus snails
2 nassarius snails
2 cerith snails
1 "turbo snail" (I'm not convinced)

Utter chaos zoas
Purple bee zoas
A sinularia finger leather
Rhodactis mushroom
Torch
Duncan
Ricordea Florida
Bubble coral
GSP
Rock flower anemone
Leptoseris and alveopora (both bad purchases and neither doing particularly well)

I'm reading this list back to myself and thinking I've gone way too fast with stocking.

Today's test results...

Ammonia - 0
Alk - 8.3-8.6
Nitrate - 1.5
Phosphate - 0
pH - 8.15
Mag - 1380
Calcium - 420

I understand that a 0 phosphate test result doesn't mean that I have no phosphates in the tank but should I be looking to increase that number or do I have these issues because my water is too rich in nutrients? I'm confused.

I do a weekly water change of about 8-10L (roughly 20%) and vac the sand at the same time.

I feed half a cube of frozen Brineshrimp per day.

I've attached a few pics under white light.

Hope I haven't missed anything, appreciate any replies.

 

[BairCorals]

1.5 nitrates and 0 po4. Sounds like you need to be feeding more, and wouldn't be a bad idea to feed corals some reef roids. That always adds some phosphates. Your tank is still new and is having a battle for top dog in the bacteria world. They do consume nitrates and phosphates, but mostly they come out big time when there isn't a stable system. Most people shoot for around 10 to 15 nitrates and .09 to .15 of phosphates. At this point it might be worth just leaving the tank alone and feed the fish a little more to see if everything figures itself out.