water chemistry

Question
I have a pond that is about 2 months old and is about 900 gallons. Have been using Tetra pond test strips. PH started high but is in good range now. Hardness has always seemed high on the test strip although the water came through a whole house filter. Alkalinity was OK but is now more towards the low side. Every other reading seems OK. So I seem to have high water hardness with Alkalinity on the low side. Can I raise the alaklinity a bit without raising the hardness? I thought they went hand in hand which confuses me as to why the hardness seems high and the alkalinity low. Maybe the test strips are not very good? Thanks.

Answer
There are three ways to soften your water (GH).

1)  Aerate water in a container with peat moss for about a week.  Add this water to your pond over the course of a day or two.

2)  Use an ion-exchange resin pack.  It will replace the magnesium and calcium with sodium.  It will not affect the alkalinity to any noticeable degree.

3)  **Expensive Solution Alert**
Take out half of the existing water.  Replace with D/I or R/O water.  Add a mesh bag full of crushed coral (aragonite) if the alkalinity is too low.  This will not affect the GH.

No matter what you do, you should test the tap water (or well water)  that you use to fill the pond.  It is probably high in calcium and magnesium.  Not all whole-house filters have a softener cartridge.