Achieving Water Clarity

[GaryE]

You should take a look at some of the aquariums being displayed on Youtube. In any case, the most likely reason you don't consider water clarity an issue is because you spend all your time viewing the aquarium from the front. That's typically 24" or less of water column. If you look in from the end, it won't look so clear. This is especially true if the aquarium is longer than 4'.

Almost all of my fishroom tanks are end out - I'm always looking from the narrow end with any tank 24 inches or under. Front on is only for the big tanks.

I had an elderly friend who used a diatom filter to 'polish' his water every week. Before and after were very similar to my eye, but some of us are very concerned about the issue. If I add tannins, things get cloudy at the far reaches of the tank, but in general, clean water is clear.

Youtube can be a fright show for bad practices.