@dw1305 I agree.
Although it seems to go against common belief, I have come to that conclusion as well. I've been in the +40 (or 80 ppm) range for a long time now (according to my API kit - very hard to tell the difference between the red patches indicating 40ppm and 80ppm) there are probably limits for sure, but my weekly WCs take care of that I suppose. Plants and fish are doing well, I have virtually no algae - and my remarkably thriving
frogbit looks good.
@Courtneybst I think my experience with Purigen is mainly the ability to remove the tannins (what I call "murky" above) from my driftwood. I would claim that by removing the tannins you also improves overall water turbidity, but how much suspended solids Purigen removes is questionable. Seachem claims some collateral benefits such as reduction in Ammonia and Nitrite ("Does not directly remove this contaminant, but use can indirectly lower levels"
as they put it), I suspect that is probably just from the aerobic bacteria that will inevitably grown on the filter media. I am fairly pragmatic about the products I use in the hobby and I would love to save the money if someone could point me to a DIY / cheaper solution.
Cheers,
Michael