I propose that it doesn't really make a whole lot of difference how you do it as long as you understand what you're doing. If your calcifying corals are growing, you have enough carbonates in your system.
I had 20,000 gallons of water under my care and using baking powder and Borax was perfect for me. Baking that much baking powder was not really an option for me due to the quantity needed. (Before I came, they were going through a 5 gallon bucket of Superbuffer dKh a month....quite expensive).
Many of the reefing products out there are made with easy to obtain chemicals. For example, Salifert Phosphate Killer, and Blue Life Phosphate Control, and Caribsea Phos-Buster Pro are nothing but lanthanum chloride which are available at any pool or spa store. Heck, the Trace Elements that salt companies so proudly tout are nothing but impurities already found in the Sodium Chloride.
The following products contain Borax:
Seachem Marine Aquarium Buffer
Kent Probuffer dkh (liquid)
Kent Super buffer dkh
ESV Bionic (liquid)
The following don't:
Seachem Reef Builder
Seachem Reef Buffer
Seachem Reef Carbonate
Reef Pure KH Buffer
As I pointed out on my other thread,
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Is there a danger from using Borax....there can be if you don't understand what's going on. If you have a lot of stonies or LPS and your total alkalinity is good and your pH is good and you don't understand why your stonies are barely growing.....you have too much Borate in your system.
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On that same thread I recommended buying an alkalinity test kit that measures both Carbonates and Borates.
Every tank and every system is different. I used to have a 200 gallon and a 75 gallon tied together on the same sump. To keep my Calcium and Alkalinity levels sufficient, I had to dose Kalk every night, separately supplement more Calcium and Alkalinity a couple times per week and supplement Magnesium weekly. My SPS would literally grow out of my water. I didn't frag for fun, I HAD to frag. I suggest that this proves that you can use baking powder and Borax. Am I recommending that other people do it. Nope, do it if you understand what's going on in your tank and you want to. By the same token, I'm not recommending that people don't do it either. Do whatever you're comfortable with.
