Is this pond "bloom"?

[pegs pond]

Hi all, Okay the water in the pond was awesome, had been in there about 3 weeks and no "bloom" just a bit of algae starting when I got the not so brilliant idea of mortaring in the rocks and spilled it in the pond and had to do a mad fast drain.  Got it all cleaned up and back together, took about a week, and plants and fish back in.  Well it started turning green pretty fast this time.  (oh we did NOT drain the biofilter as I thought that maybe the "good" bacteria would help?)  Everyday it gets greener, water looks almost thick, can't see but shadows of fish.  Oh it's been refilled for a bit over 2 weeks.  Is this "bloom" that I've read about or do I need to do something?  I've cleaned the prefilter but not touched the savio biofilter, should I clean it out?  Add sludge remover, algecide or just wait it out and it will clear on it's own?  I have put microlift PL in it as I read that was good for starting and keeping pond nice.  It's raining but I will try to get piccys if it quits for a few.  Oh also there is a bit of foam around some of the plants and some bubbles on the top....it kinda looks like a green swamp pit  :'(.  Also I have a pond vac that works on water should I vacuum it? 
Thanks for ANY help/advise.
Peg

[miguynmkoi]

Sounds like a serious bloom.  Rain and water change will not help.  Just sit tight and wait it out.  You can use extra filtering material like polyester batting (for quilts) to catch green particles either before or after the filter.  Whichever is easiest to clean out dirty batting often.  Be patient!  Good luck!

[tracey_shafer]

Sounds about right. The good news is that it will not hurt the fish.

[reddad35]

 This is how I found this site. I had all these symptoms. I bought an aerator and cleaned the filter system out. I had not cleaned it all summer. I also added some filter material and some quilt batting under that. within hours I was seeing a difference. I have cleaned the filter material and replaced the batting twice since then.

[Esther]

Filter, filter, filter. It's a job but you'll see results.

[tweetybaby2005]

Oh I know what you mean about just seeing the shadow of the fish.  We had been battling pea soup green for the last 4 weeks now.  I added 2 extra filters plus the skippy.  I cleaned the extra filters religiously everyday (I only clean the skippy once a week to preserve the good bacteria) for the last 4 weeks to no avail.  Finally broke down and bought a UV and my pond water is finally crystal clear.  Not sure if it is truly the UV clearing up the pond or the cool nights we have had this last week (in the 40s).  I agree that with patience, it should clear up for you.  If not, may be then you can look into getting a UV.

It doesn't help that my pond gets at least 8 hours of full sun daily and my plants are starting to ever so slowly provide more shade on the surface of the pond.  Of course now that we are getting more cooler nights and days, the plants will die back soon.   


Kuan

[pegs pond]

Okay I stuffed some quilt batting into the waterfall bio filter, no one said how much to use?  Can I also put some in the skimmer basket?  Also there is a mesh filter (much like the ones on furnace) in the skimmer and the bio filter and they are yucky!  Do they HAVE to be washed in pond water?  I have a well so chlorine is no problem.  Thanks again and fingers crossed this clears soon.
Peg

[Esther]

Peg, I put filter media in mesh baskets in the drops of the waterfall and extra in the skimmer and some in the Skippy. If it's bad, I clean it a couple times a day. But usually in a couple days, there is a major change in the green.

By the way, I never clean the Skippy during the season. That is the idea of the Skippy. If you go to the Skippy site, you'll see he says to NEVER clean it. In Michigan and cold weather states, I think we have to clean it either as we're shutting it down or in the spring. I'm using floor scrubber pads in mine and use a pressure washer to clean them. Then we use a wet/dry shop vac to get the mud out of the bottom. We didn't put in a clean out, like dumbies.

[miguynmkoi]

Sorry Pegs for not going into detail.  But like Esther said, you only need a sheet on a basket or tray to catch/filter the green particles.  I usually dump the messy batting after it gets too funky.  In the beginning you may want to change it a couple times a day then maybe once a day to once every couple of days until your water is clean.

I still keep the batting on regularly before the water goes over the waterfall as a water polisher.  Hope this helps.

[pegs pond]

Thanks all, took your advice and it took a few days but the water is MUCH better now!  Hubby has been cleaning the batting twice a day but not getting much green at all now so will slow down on it.  Now I wonder if I should vacuum the bottom?  Or just wait until it warms up? Which here maybe 6 months!   
Thanks so much
Peg