Howdy all, been looking for a while and just joined. I had a pond built in August of last year and we had been in a drought so it didn't fill up till yesterday lol. I have been reading about the alum for muddy water and I have a connection to get it in bulk so Im going to try that first. I also have a cement plant in town that I can get kiln dust (read it was better than ag lime). It is about half and acre and 10 ft in the middle. The dirt is all orange clay, so I may have problems getting it clear enough to get things growing. Ill have lots of questions as I dont know anything about it. I just know how to catch fish and what habitat holds them lol.

Not knowing much about your soils, I would do a jar test first to see if the water will settle naturally. Take some pond water in a jar and let it sit, see what it does.

A newly filled pond will be cloudy. Mine looked like a milkshake for several weeks after an initial downpour added quite a bit of water to it on bare banks. Now it is a clear as a life-filled pond can be!

Oh, and welcome!

Welcome!
I'm about 45 minutes north of you, and a couple of my neighbors' lakes were really muddy once they filled up after the drought (the ones that had dried up)

You should get a soil survey of your property if you haven't already, at
http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm
It's free and all online (see the 4 steps on the web page before starting)

Do you have any pictures of before fill and after?

I agree with squid. On new ponds, water flows over undisturbed and also loose soil and carries a lot with it. It might clear on its own but the jar test ought to tell you. Do you have anything planted to help catch soils and debris?

Got pics up in the gallery. Thanks for welcome.