Extremely high nitrite levels/ brown algae

Question
I have had a 20 gal aquarium for about a month and a half. About a month into the process, all my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels were excellent. I thought I had cycled it good so I got all the fish I wanted in there without being way overstocked. Then, I discovered some nasty brown algae on the decorations and now it is growing everywhere. I had aquarium salt in my tank. I read online that the salt does virtually nothing and it was bad for my cories and I wanted to get a mystery snail (can't have salt) to eat leftover food and see if it would eat the algae. So, I did  4 25% water changes over a period of two days. I got the mystery snail and he was very active and munched a little on the algae but now he wont come out of his shell. But, thats normal for them so i'm not too worried. After the huge wc, my nitrite levels skyrocketed. Theyre off the chart hot pink. And my nitrate levels are pretty bad too (last level of "safe"). I'm not sure about ammonia because my test strips dont show it. I have the feeling theyre bad too. All of my fish survived the cycling process before so I hope they can survive it again. The snail was cheap so I can buy another if he dies. I fear I have started the cycling process over. What can I do about the nitrites and the algae? I'll check the ammonia at petco soon. I know all the good bacteria are in there somewhere because how would I get nitrite or nitrate without them. How long will it take to recycle (lol)?
Thanks  

Answer
Hi Trent;

The water changes really weren't what caused it actually. It was the addition of so many new fish all at once. Your system had completed it's first cycle and beneficial bacteria had populated enough to handle the waste of the original fish. However, it was not enough to handle the new population. When adding fish, you have to do it slowly so the bacteria can compensate safely. One inch of fish a week per ten gallons of tank water is what I recommend.

You will have to make water changes again to keep the toxins low enough for them to tolerate. Hopefully they will all make it through. You can make a daily 25% change but don't vacuum the gravel. Most of the beneficial bacteria lives in the gravel and on tank surfaces and you don't want to stress it further.

Brown algae is very common in new tanks. Most algae eating fish and snails really don't like it much. They eat it as a last resort. Here is a link to am article about brown algae for more information;

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/algae.htm#brown

I hope they do okay...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins