Agree with the above on color. Also note that color in a carboy will appear darker than in will in the bottle or a glass, since you're looking through more mead.
While time (sometimes lots of it) will usually clear meads, I don't jump onto the anti-"chemical" bandwagon quite so quickly. Since I live in Boulder county, CO, where you are a dog's "guardian" and not its owner, I'm in a significant minority here. Nonetheless, pectic enzyme can be a good tool. You have it in your digestive tract (if you're human
)... I think most people in this context hear "chemicals" and think of something artificial or foreign or evil. What pectinase, a naturally-occurring enzyme, does is break the long-chained pectin molecules into smaller fractions, some of which are fermentable. If enzymes are chemicals, then the bees already have added chemicals to our honey! Pectinase can increase yield from fruits pretty dramatically, and certainly helps speed the clarification process. Even certified organic wines, I believe, can have used pectinase (many winemakers use it after crush). It does settle out with lees (just like aging can do, over a lot more time, for the pectins).
To me it's kind of like the militant granola folks here who'll ingest anything advertised as "natural" assuming it thus can't be harmful, when precidely the opposite may be true. To call
any additive a "chemical", in a perjorative sense, can be a little misleading. It really pays to take the time to understand what we're talking about, so people who might not have professional experience or chemistry background can make informed decisions about what tools they choose to use or not use in their mead.
As you can tell, this "chemical" thing is a little bit of a button for me, having worked in Boulder managing a homebrew shop where I've had militant vegans scream at me for enslaving billions of yeast cells peddling my evil, nefarious trade. I'm absolutely serious. Obviously some of these types can be very ignorant (in a literal, not a mean sense) of the issues they'll argue at the drop of a soy-decaf-chai-latte. It's a bit like trying to tell the angry animal-rights person that we're trying to work WITH the bees and improve their chances in a mutually-beneficial relationship, but all they can see is the evil slave-master cackling while he counts the millions he made off the sweat of these poor brutalized insects who can't stick up for themselves (I've argued this one too). Good analogy?
I guess my point (we were wondering if there was one!) is yet again that there are many paths to good mead. Our members here, and certainly Scott who has a professional's expertise and makes his decisions based on a broad knowledge base (please understand Scott that I'm
not trying to stomp on you, just venting a bit), are NOT part of this problem. I've always been a devil's advocate who believes that his role is to get out lots of info (whether you wanted it or not) and let everyone make up their own minds and meads.
Alright, stepping down off the soapbox and drawing a breath...