Noob- do I need a water change or something else

[Htubild1]

I have a 4 week old tank. The nitrite level has suddenly spiked to .5 . I also have red slime algae. All of my other numbers are still perfect. Should I do a water change or add anything, or should I just leave it alone and wait. I was hoping to get a few snails and a couple of starter fish this week.

 

[Reef.]

Do you have a powerhead?

What size tank?

You haven’t given much info to go on.

 

[Billldg]

I would wait on the fish, but a few snails will be fine. Their is a good chance that the tank is still cycling.

 

[Htubild1]

Do you have a powerhead?

What size tank?

You haven’t given much info to go on.

I don't know what a powerhead is so suspect that I don't have one.
30 gal tank.
I've gotten a lot of bad advice so I added too many nutrients I think.
I started with a live rock and live sand, but then I heard of this stuff called Dr Tim's that helps you to cycle the tank using nutrients and ammonia, so I used that too. I started getting algae shortly after that. Not sure if it's red slime algae. It's like of orange. I found out that my salt level was too high and my ph was low ,so I did a water change and everything looked perfect. But now the nitrite s are up to ~.5.
Should I do a water change? Also I was hoping to add a couple of starter fish or snails. Is it too early?

 

[Reef.]

What nitrate test kit are you using?

You need to make sure your ammonia is zero before adding anything live, you need to test for that.

A powerhead is what moves the water around in the tank, a black cage with a spinning blade in it, if you don’t have one sounds like you need one as that can be a cause of the red algae you are seeing, not enough water movement In the tank.

You seem to have a lot going on, try and post a picture of the tank, that’ll help.

If my tank I would try and get the algae sorted before adding more things to the tank, if you have a light, turn it off as it’ll help with the algae.

Doing a big water change now won’t hurt but you need to test ammonia as a first step, then go from there.

It’s tempting to get the fish in now, but you really don’t want to do that yet, until you understand what is going on with the tank and it’s ready for them, if you don’t wait you will just be adding to your problems.