So my water clarity I think is around 18" currently. Last year it was only around 12" (I need to take a measurement next time I'm out). I was able to plant a lot of rye grass on the banks over the winter which I think really helped stabilize the banks to help with the clarity. The water is stained brown and I have done a jug test where alum cleared the water up pretty quickly. So, I definitely have some suspended clay particles which I'm fairly sure is affecting the visibility, not a plankton bloom. I have decided to not mess with the water clarity until I can get vegetation grown on the banks which has been a lot more difficult than I thought. (droughts suck for growing bank vegetation)

I'm not fertilizing the pond, however this year however the biomass of flooded grasses and what not was much greater when the pond filled back up to the top compared to when it initially filled. So my assumption was that was likely fueling the FA growth this year.

As for adding the tilapia, the advice was likely given a little bit more based on my situation at the time. There was very minimal FA growth at all, my shallow end didn't even have water when I posted the question, and the number one reason that I actually wanted them was to have some other fish in the lake for the cormorants to go after so they would lay off the bluegills/bass to give me a chance to put up some protection measures once they arrived. I also went with a different company to do my stocking and they were bringing a truck from a fishery that didn't have tilapia, otherwise I probably would have still thrown in a few.

We do have a local place that sometimes has tilapia, I guess I could call them up and see if they still have some.