Here are the test results. For the pond I just dipped the test bottle into the pond. For the hose I just turned on the hose, and for the post-filter I just turned on the hose attached to the post filter. My husband and I agree that I should re-test the hose before and after filter by letting the hose run for a minute or two, and same for the carbon filter cartridge, rather than collecting wtaer right off the bat that's probably been sitting in the hose for a few days.
We use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to make the alkalinity high for both pH buffering purposes (related to the occasional pH swing from algae blooms) and because it's supposed to be good for the ammonia-fixing bacteria. Plus we regularly add calcium chloride and magnesium sulfate (epsom salts) to increase the general hardness to levels recommended by a Koi USA magazine article. So this should explain the levels of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and chlorides (different from
chlorine of course) and presumably sulfur (if that test is actually detecting sufates).
I was suprised at the presence of "ammonium" in the pond, which I looked up. It's different from ammonia and not toxic to the fish (
http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html is a great source of info on water quality and where I learned this). Our Lamotte salycilate kit shows no ammo
nia present in the pond, so it's possible the lab uses a nessler kit which is detecting some bound ammon
ium--related to when we were using the amquel about a month ago--that the bacteria hasn't got around to breaking down yet
What I didn't realize yesterday is that my husband actually put
two filters in the line, I believe to so one backs up the other or something. He sais he did this because of a set-up he saw described on a marine aquarium website. I'll get that website from him to post.
For chlorine, re-read my above post: lab doesn't test for it, but my husband's testing (turns out it's a Hach brand test, not a lamotte) found that the carbon filter when new removed chlorine to a level undetectable by this test. And that is with the hose on max flow. (The website for the cartridge recommends a max flow of 3 gal/min.)
http://www.americanplumber.com/PDF/3...Cartridges.pdf This is the website where he got the stuff from. It's the "radial flow carbon" WRC25HD model. Again, I don't think we're doing this because we're worried about anything in our water other than cholrine, I think it's because he likes gadgets.
We'll be curious to use our nitrate and potassium tests now and see how their results compare to the lab test.
The lab is J R Peters in Allentown, PA and they charge $36 per sample, in case anyone else is interested. (If anyone knows of any better deals, feel free to post them!)