Newbie story and Question

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My Situation:

I finished the majority of my build last week (pics below). My pond is at widest 13' x 22' and deepest is 3.5' deep. I started adding a few plants to crystal clear water that had been dormant a few days. I kept adding a few more small river rock that had been washed repeatedly (they can't be washed enough) but it still clouded the water a bit. I started to notice a green tint to the water after about a week. Then 2 nights ago it rained about 3". The rain washed some of this VA. clay into the pond from an area that I had not completely planted yet. Yesterday the water was terrible, orange and cloudy from the clay and I was sure still had the green tint to it. I went to my local shop and was told to try Algaefix and let the filters do the work. I'll digress and tell you that the filters came as a kit and are the following: Atlantic Skimmer PS4500, Atlantic Filterfalls 1250 and a Calpump 3500. All are rated as appropriate for my pond (about 2000 gals.). The skimmer came with a single sheet of white filter and the falls came with a green one. Last night I had some small clumps of bubbles after using the Algaefix as directed. I rinsed the skimmer filter several times as it was filling up with these bubbles. It appeared that there was a flim on top of the water. I went out and purchased a few additional items. I bought a small minnow net to scoop some of the bubbles out of the skimmer, I bought two new pieces of filter material one course and one fine. I placed the fine sheet behind the white existing filter in the skimmer. I then placed two Barley squares in the filterfalls under the green filter. This morning the orange clay cloud is almost gone, but the greenish tint is still present and the water is still quite cloudy. Should I just leave everything alone and let these filters do their work? Should I follow the direction on the Algaefix and add more as instructed? I am new to all this.

Thanks in advance,
Olee

Pond started:
Koi%20Pond%20start.jpg


A bit larger (can never be big enough) with skimmer and filterfalls added:
Koi%20pond%20a%20bit%20larger%20with%20skimmer%20and%20filterfalls.jpg


Wall started and water added:
Koi%20Pond%20wall.jpg


Trial run for waterfall #1
koi%20pond%20waterfall.jpg
 
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First off....Welcome to the forum. I would leave things alone. The green you are experiencing is due to the pond being new. You did not mention adding bacteria to the pond. If you have not, you should. Also, put a couple of feeder goldfish in to get the filter cycling.
 
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How does one add bacteria? I do a have 5 smaller Koi (5-6") and 6 of the larger goldfish. I also forgot to mention that I have a test kit (not the strips) and all is good with the exception of the Wide PH, it was a bit high (8.5ish).
 

koiguy1969

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use the pl gel filter innocculant from microbelift it works real fast. regular bacterial additives are simply poured into the pond or better yet filter.
 

DrCase

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Give it more time, keep the filters running,,,try to keep the clay out
 
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The clay came from the section in the middle. I have not finished planting there, but will soon. The filters are working fine now. I guess there is just a learning curve.
 
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I'd love to see the pics as I'm in pretty close boat to you! For some reason they aren't showing up for me. Is it just me?
 

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