Thank you for the welcome Todd. Greg is about 35 miles from me but recent events with one of my son's (braces) stole my budget for using him as a consultant. I will definitely get him out here as soon as the funds present themselves.

Your pond sounds much like mine. I am determined to get the algae problem under control, one way or another. Considering that there is no growth in the deeper areas around the edges I think increasing the depth will help me some...it certainly can't hurt because it will definitely help the fish population. I am pondering the possibility that there is no chara around the edge since that is where the bucket was able to evacuate the dirt (and sludge) when the previous owners attempted to make it deeper...but then there is definitely an area that the bucket did not dig, but is deeper and there is no chara. No clear answer with those criteria to this neophyte.

Yes, steady in/outflows, but when I restrict the outflow to hopefully raise the level about 18" (by my rough calculation) there will be a short period of time to where there will only be inflow. I wonder if that will be enough to use the product you mention. I do have FA too but it's not too terribly bad, at least it's certainly secondary to the chara.

If I could just get something to keep it from coming back, I would do mechanical removal. But seeing that area very quickly fill back in just about broke our hearts. I have since learned we may have inadvertently helped the chara by doing the removal because we stirred up the detritus in the process, further making nutrients available to the chara. Best bet would be to dredge, that would fix both problems at once....but though I am blessed beyond what I deserve, that is waaaaaay out of the budgetary question I'm sure.

From what I have read, aeration is 3rd on my list. If there is enough definitive opinion that says aeration will definitely help my weed problem more than anything else for that expense I will focus my resources there. I have access to a spare compressor, cheap source for line and at least as a trial I could rig up a bubble head. But I don't want to go through all that effort when that will only have marginal effect on the weeds. It's in the plan, just down the list.

Thank you so much for your input....much more to ponder. The more I know, the more I know I don't :-).