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.