[Snappy]

In my old tank I always struggled to keep my PH up so I used to use recipe one and also prebaked large amounts to store but now in my present system I use recipe #2. For whatever reason I don't need to increase the PH and it's so easy. I keep my alk mix in an 18 gallon tank and just top it up every few weeks with R/O & Arm&Hammer. I also have a heater & powerhead in the storage tank to help keep it in solution.

Also when I dosed manually I just used 3(ca, alk, mg) cups with pin holes at the bottom sitting on an eggcrate shelf I laid across the sump and poured the solutions into them for a slow drip. They needed regular cleaning to unclog them but for a ghetto DIY it worked fine.