Making the water look like water

For a while the water was a flat slab of navy blue. It did the job, but it was lifeless — and as I started polishing other things, that flat fill dragged everything down with it.

The fix was a gradient that mimics how a real aquarium is lit — bright at the surface where the light bar sits, fading to deep blue near the substrate — plus more visible light shafts drifting down.

The difference is bigger than I expected. The tank reads as having volume now instead of being a blue rectangle. It also taught me that the rocks and decor still looked flat against the brighter water — a thread I’d be pulling on for weeks.