Hi Mike,

Sounds like a nice project.

Algae enjoys sun, new water, fish waste, fertilized run off, rotting plants,
blown in dirt.

With no fish you don't have to worry about fish waste (though you may want to
use a mosquito dunk if you have areas of still water in it).
Keep fertilizer away from it, keep it clean of blown in leaves and trim dead
plant growth.

Algae is always the first 'plant' to get going in a pond so you might have a
slight bloom. You can put the water plants in right away, you don't have to
wait.
You can read the algae primer in my sig, though it deals with ponds with fish
in them it also gives you an idea of the mechanics of algae.


kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html