S
SeaMaiden
I used a relatively inexpensive aquarium test kit that's known in the trade for its reliability and relative accuracy. It's a colorimetric, liquid drop kit, some tests are titration test, but they're really easy to perform. The kit is about $25. The hardness tests are simply for general (GH) and carbonate (dKH, aka German degrees of hardness) types, they don't get any more specific than that. If your well is shallow it's likely also greatly affected by rains or lack thereof. I definitely notice changes with ours, and we have to replace filters frequently when there's more rain.
My well is deep, almost 800' deep, the water is COLD, definitely has both general and carbonate hardness levels that are a pain to deal with. We also happen to live nearby a gypsum cave called Black Chasm, so I figure that between the granite, the volcanic rock, etcetera, we've got ourselves a hell of a mineral soup going on here.
In any event, the point is that the water itself can have a great effect on what ends up in it and what doesn't, how easily one may or may not shift parameters such as pH given what's in solution, yadda yadda yadda.
My well is deep, almost 800' deep, the water is COLD, definitely has both general and carbonate hardness levels that are a pain to deal with. We also happen to live nearby a gypsum cave called Black Chasm, so I figure that between the granite, the volcanic rock, etcetera, we've got ourselves a hell of a mineral soup going on here.
In any event, the point is that the water itself can have a great effect on what ends up in it and what doesn't, how easily one may or may not shift parameters such as pH given what's in solution, yadda yadda yadda.