Question:
Starting this weekend, I've decided to do some systematic cleaning over the next few weeks, to see if I can somehow get the water to clear up more. I know hazy water doesn't hurt the fish, but it's just that I envy my favorite LFSs' crystal-clear tanks (some even have real plants, and they still look very very clear. only murky tanks are when they're cleaning the tank, or the feeder fish tank..)comments?

Answer: Here is the list I've come up with that I should try to address, and see if the water will clear up. I was hoping the experts on this group can point me to other places to investigate (or just tell me to give up if the following effort doesn't pan out):

1. water changes I do 20%-25% water change every 2 weeks ever since the tank has cycled (I target 15-20%, but seems to end up taking out more water than I intended when using siphon-style gravel vac..). Obviously this in itself hasn't helped much in clearing out water 2. gravel vac I just bought the air-pump activated gravel vac, so I can do more thorough vacumming (the siphon vac took out water too quickly). I hope to remove as much plant debris, and other detritus from the gravel and plants, without malnutritioning the plants. (will be putting root tabs soon) 3. UGF maintenance try to siphon out some of the gunk accumulating underneath the UGF plating (use narrow tubing and shove it under the plate through the uplift tube opening). Last time I got lots of brownish goo out... I guess the substrate is too coarse and letting lots of detrius get trapped under the plating, oh well.. next time i'll get something better) 3. plant cleaning remove all deteriorating leaves on all stem plants, continue to vacuum out crud that accumulates on fine-leaved plants (acting as a filter!) 4. foam filter on powerfilter take out and clean (not used for biological filter yet) often. May be add a finer filter floss? (what size mesh? I see 50um or 100um particle traps)? 5. add aqua-clear type particle coagulator for more efficient mechanical filtering.