Greetings from another new pond builder

[CometKeith]

Hi Nick. Welcome. I agree with advice given already. Your pond doesn't need any additives other than decor. Don't add any more fish and feed sparingly until the water clears up. Adding plants will help use up the nitrates so they are important. I'm not quite sure why people need the chemicals from bottles for their ponds, but as long as people keep buying them they will keep making and selling the stuff.

 

[Nick83]

@CometKeith Thank you for your advice. The plants and fish are looking healthy though as for the cloudy water thats another story. As much as I would love add more fish but I totally agree to wait until the water goes through its cycles. I did buy some quick start though I'm I'm not sure I'm going to use it as I would rather not use chemicals in this pond.
The water does look to be changing from a green to more of a cloudy brown. Is that good, I'm not sure? If I were to guess its the algea dying off?!?

 

[CometKeith]

Hey Nick. That's fine. My last pond turned a weird brown color just before it cleared. It's kind of funny. The less you do to a pond the faster it finds it's balance and cycles. The main thing is you dob't want too big of a bio-load in a new pond until it cycles. For that reason a lot of people don't introduce too many fish or feed a lot. You can buy test strips to make sure it's okay while you are waiting for it to clear.. If you do have high ammonia or nitrites then frequent water changes of 15-20% will help bring them down. Actually algae will help digest the wastes products so that is why it grows so much in the beginning. When the pond settles down the fish waste and it's byproducts are naturally synthesized by bb (beneficial bacteria) and the algae dissipates. I know it's hard when it's a new pond and you want to show it to your friends and family. In my book it's equally impressive to explain how the nitrogen cycle works, as showing off the perfect pond. They will see it a few months later when it's looking great and be impressed by how smart you were!