decreasing light to kill alergy

About 3 weeks ago I started to see Red Algae in my aquarium. My nitrates are up and I suspect this is part of the problem. I also think it may be a function of a window next to my aquarium shining in as where the sun hits is where the algae started up. I have been pulling it out by hand, which unfortunately allows some of it to escape and get to other parts of the aquarium, so question 1 is should I stop trying to remove it by hand?
I have also attempted addressing the question by placing a magazine in front of the aquarium where the lighting was hitting in I don't suspect that this can hurt, but it has not yet seemed to help as it only continues to get worse. I also bought a hermit crab that LFS said would eat red algae (have only seen minimal evidence of this, the crab seems to be finding other sources of food as well). I have read that cutting light down will help, so I have cut the light down to 6 hours a day. Should I decrease it further? Is this going to negatively impact my coral and fish to an extent that I should put the lighting back to 8 hours.

 

You can do a blackout (no lights and wrap tank to keep sunlight out) for 3 days to get rid of cyano, but unless you address the high nitrates it will only return. Do you know where the high nitrates are coming from?

 

+1 on no lights, if you don't have hard corals or clams no light for 3 days won't hurt anything. There are numerous products on the market to help deal with cyanobacteria but I have no experience with them. I am having a similar issue in my 29 gallon, I am about to do the 3 days no lights trick. Sometimes even in a pristine tank the cyano will pop up.

 

I'd take some Antihistamines and call it good

 

Get a TLF reactor with rowaphos and let it run

 

It's actually Cynobacteria. Which is not an algae. Lower nutrient import. Raise nutrient export. Increase flow to affected areas, known as dead spots. Lights out will kill it off initially but if the above isn't taken care of it will return.

 

Very common in newer tanks that haven't balanced out yet.

 

Fix the source of the issue first. Then you can use chemiclean or a similar treatment to kill it off quickly. If you don't fix the underlying problem, it will return.