I can actually see my fish

My tank tends to build up nitrates no matter what I do, and that means algae grows on the glass (and everywhere else). When I was at Incredipet earlier I bought an algae pad that was on closeout for only $1.97, so I thought what's to lose? It really does an excellent job of removing the stuff. I had been using just a regular scrubbie pad you use on dishes, but it didn't do as decent a job. I also got the build-up on the glass under the light off. So things look less murky. I have a few goldfish of varying colours in the tank, one of which is kind of a dark bronze, and I could never see it much. Now they all are showing their vibrant colours. Yay! Now someday soon I need to vacuum out the gravel. I hate doing that, because I can never get the vacuum to work right. You're supposed to be able to pump it into the water a few times and get some suction going. I usually wind up having to do things the old-fashioned way, which means getting the suction by sucking on the end of the hose, which is rather unsanitary and would probably make our Infection Control director majorly box my ears. But if I don't do it, the nitrates will build up further and the fish will suffer, so what can I say, I do.