Lee,

I think direct sun acts as a solar water heater and the thinner the water
layer over the liner, the more heat that you would expect from the sun. The
biggest factor would be the wet bulb temperature. The wet bulb temperature
is also referred to as the dew point. If the pond temperature is warmer
than the dew point, then it will evaporate like a cup of steaming coffee and
evaporation equals cooling. If the pond temperature is cooler than the dew
point, then you will get condensation from the air, and the pond will warm
toward that dew point temperature. Mad will have higher temperatures than
you do, but I would bet that her pond will stay quite a bit cooler than
yours.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
While some of the folks up North are still wondering if they can feed
their
fish yet, my water temp is in the mid-80's. The air temp is threatening to
reach the 90's this week. The pond only gets full sun from about 11-4
o'clock (at this time of year), so I guess I need to make some kind of sun
shade to shield the pond. The shade cloth I was looking at is rated by "UV
Protection"; in other words, it will shield 50%, 80% and 100% UV. I can
shade the pond without bothering the plants (which are all in the
waterfall
area, not the pond where the fish are - which is plantless). Therefore,
total (100%) blockage of UV will not hurt my plant life. But which is best
for the fish? Should I go for the density of the 100%? Also, which has the
most influence on the water temp: direct sun or air temp?

Thanks for your input.

--
Lee B.
See my Zone 9 a/b ponds at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/dragnp