You have a great looking pond. Read the frequently asked questions (at the top of the forum) and get familiar with ponding. Add plants in the water and on the island and enjoy. Once you start feeding the fish and they start coming to you to eat you will be hooked.

As far as the algae goes you could add floating plants if you over a majority of the pond that will help keep algae down or you can add a uv light to your pond and that will get rid of it very quickly. Do you have any type of filter set up on your pump to help keep the water clean? if not I would get one.

I am getting some plants today, and not sure what kind of filter system to put in because its a pretty big pond.

Before buying a filter it's best imo to get a water testing kit. One that uses drops, not paper strip tests. Ammonia and KH are the most important. Next most important is Nitrite. After that there's pH and Nitrate but those mislead many people so I would skip those.

If you have dangerous levels of ammonia that would have to be dealt with. If you read some ammonia for say more than a week then a bio filter is needed. Most Water Gardens never see ammonia so no bio filter is needed.

Different filters do different things. People new to ponds tend to just see the word "filter" and think they fix all and manufacturers prey on that. Those filters have a few pads inside and when cleaned dirt does come out which impresses people, but the amount of dirt they collect isn't much compared to what settles on the bottom. I think vacuums are a better choice.

There are lots of products sold to new pond owners that sound good. They aren't. Some can really mess up a pond.

There are some effective chemicals that can be used to control algae but they are fairly complex to use properly. For one thing you need to know how many gals of water are in your pond. Then you have to measure the right amount and they have to be applied at the right time.

Copper based chemicals will kill fish if not applied correctly.

Oxidizer type chemicals are safer but have to be applied repeatedly which gets you into a cycle of algae bloom followed by a lot of dead algae. To properly use these they have to be applied before you see an algae problem. No one does that, so they don't really work.

The best green water cure is a UV filter properly sized for your pond and installed correctly. These are 100% effective and clear a pond in 3-7 days. If the pond doesn't clear it means the UV wasn't installed or sized correctly. Turning down the flow of water thru the unit will often correct the problem. So they should be installed with a ball valve and bypass. Not hard to do.

For large algae that grows on the sides of the pond the best control method is pulling it out manually. Like weeding the garden. 2-4 times a month in summer as needed.

Ponds can be very simple to keep, or very hard. It's the owner's choice. Many people want simple and then buy all kinds of junk that make things very difficult.

If draining is an option, I've found a shop vac works pretty well for getting gunk out the bottom of the pond.

Do you know how many gallons your pond is?

we drained it a few days ago and got all the algae out, its nice and clean now, close to 5000 gallons of water. when its clean and clear its awesome to see the fish and a few turtles swimming around. Even found a big tilapia ,like a big aquarium, now Algae preventative maintenance and to plant it out a little, thanks for everyones input, this is a first for me so i need all the help i can get..

love the turtle..