Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants New house with pond w/algae bloom..clueless

LOL...So apparently last year I was ALMOST ready to buy, but not quite. Up the street from us, a house took out all of the trees in their yard and put down grass. And, a new neighborhood is going in uphill from my intake stream. I think the fertilizer they used to get all that going caused major issues for me. My pond is nearly completely overgrown. It exploded with growth, granted looking back I could have done more to control it, but I never expected this to happen:


So, I got a pond rake and dug in. I've put about 5 hours into pulling weeds at this point, and have made a dent, but man is it a lot of work. The Parrot Feather crap is absolutely insane, the root system is gnarly. Here are some shots after raking a bit:


And here's one near the dock (note the opened area at the opposite side from the photo:


So, it's been a good workout to this point, and I'm ready to do more. But, overall, I'm trying to weigh my options. I know I could still drain it and reboot, but, I have game fish in it now and some nice bass based on last-year's fishing fun.

I did add another 6 grass carp this year, the 8 that I put in early on I wasn't sure were still there and even if they are, they need help!

This is bringing me to a few questions at this point.

1) Aeration: Now that I'm taking all the time and effort to go through this plant removal process, I am getting myself ready to invest in an aeration system. The EasyPro PA6SWN is for 3/8 area and has one output, the PA8SWN is for 3/4 area and has two heads. While I think the 6 would technically be close enough with a rating of a 3/8 acre (vs my .44 acre pond), I don't want to skimp toooo much. Anyway, one thing I'm uncertain of, will the aeration help control the plant growth, or will it make it worse?

2) Should I try to remove all of these plants and all other plants, or not? Is there something I should try to promote? A few years ago we had bad algae blooms, so it's nice to not see that happening with the plants, but of course they are creating their own problems.

3) Also, I have an explosion of Alders growing up around the edge all the way around the pond. They are getting huge, some are 7'. Should I let them line the edge of the pond, or should I keep it more cleaned up like it was originally? They are easy-ish to remove, I'm not sure what the right balance is.