Brad, it seems like Bill Cody would approve of your IPM approach, and I think you're right. So far this spring I put in an American Eagle windmill aerator and bought lots of baitfish for the new pond and the old pond. I've got plans to spray with Cutrine Plus if we ever get a sunny day. For me, that's enough money spent on ponds for this season.
The best news of all is that the algae I see in the new pond today looks to be about one-half of that shown in the photo I posted two weeks ago (see above). I think that the (much more attractive) pond weeds are now sprouting and robbing the FA of some of the nutrients, but that's just a novice's guess.
Compare this photo today to the one two weeks ago:
