Mark, in our part of the country Alkalinity and Hardness are never in question...I'm not sure what the case is in Pennsylvania, but I'd bet you have higher Alkalinity and Hardness values than the southern states.
Hardness is mainly a measure of calcium and magnesium in the water. It is important to have some hardness because it reduces the susceptibility of fish to ammonia, nitrite, heavy metals and several other toxic substances. I would guess that your water is fine, but if you want to test anyhow, we sell 2 multi-parameter water test kits (Laborette $18, Koi Analyset $49) on our web site that include calcium hardness tests (KH).
The only time that I have seen Ammonia or Nitrite cause toxicity problems in recreational ponds is as a result of agricultural run-off or massive weed/algae/fish die-offs. However, they can occur in measurable amounts and are an important component of total nitrogen measurements.
If you are going to test for feccal coliform, I would recommend that you hire an aquatic biologist to come out and do the sampling, because they can give you better recommendations on how to correct any problems than most labs could. Also, they would help you interpret the results of the test. When we sample ponds we do the following: Secchi Disk Readings, Dissolved Oxygen (at various depths), Temperature (at various depths), Total Suspended Solids, Alkalinity as CaCO3, Nitrate/Nitrite, NH3 Ammonia (toxic), Total Phosphorous, pH, TKN (Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen), Fecal Coliform/Fecal Streptococcus (Multiple Dilutions). There are other things that we test for if we have reason to expect problems, but those are on a case by case basis. Expect to pay $200-$300 for all this with an explanation/recommendation from the biologist.
Good Luck,
Mike Robinson
Keystone Hatcheries.
