[mike31154]

I bake up baking soda for alk as well. Different view of what a hassle is I guress, waiting for something to come in the mail as opposed to spending an hour of so of my time baking. As far as pH, I don't recall the last time I even checked that paramater (edit: I checked a month or so ago when I was about to add two cleaner shrimp). Whenever I check alk, it seems to be chronically low, so I'll mix some baked baking soda into my water top off. The lps & few sps I have still seem to be able to get what they need to grow. I look at the tank every day & if there's a problem with paramaters, my critters will usually clue me in with odd behaviour. My BTAs are a very good indicator that something is amiss. Thankfully, there hasn't been any odd behaviour in a very long time.