one thing to be aware of if you are using pond water (especially in a pond that is 14years old) would be that you could introduce parasites into your system that are not beneficial..
the point isn't to get the algae growing, but most folks do go through a "pea soup" phase in the early stages of the system, but covering the ft, and making sure that plenty of oxygen is being added will get you through that phase to when you can actually start feeding your fish
while an AP system is similar to a pond, there are some major differences... read lots before you start running water