It seems to me that 34 alk. and hardness is not too bad. I would be inclined to go to Home Depot and get a #50 bag of hydrated lime for about 10-15 bucks and follow Ken's directions applying it. To me it's not worth $600 to get the hardness up at this time. Add some ag lime now or wait til fall. Lots of people use just hydrated lime in spring then fertilize. Monitor the ph with test strips.
I honestly dont follow the logic of getting the water in shape to fertilize, then only add pond dye.
