Making artificial Tufa towers (a la Mono Lake)

My son (6) and I recently visited Mono Lake in California and would like to try growing some artificial tufa towers at home using household chemicals.

The real tufa towers arise out of a reaction between spring water emerging from the bottom of the lake with the alkaline lake water. I assume they grow generally upwards due to the difference in density?

The idea is to simulate lake water using an alkaline solution (e.g. of sodium carbonate / washing soda) and bubble/wick/drip/feed "spring water" containing calcium chloride, and hopefully see Tufa grow where they meet.

Our initial attempts at this were not very convincing. Indeed, mixing the two solutions does generate a diffuse white precipitate, and I can imagine that, in the real lake, it might slowly settle and build up towers over a long period of time. Is there a way to generate more convincing tufa towers more quickly?

Various Mono Lake related websites suggest this recipe:

Within Mono Lake’s waters are dissolved sodium salts of chlorides, carbonates and sulfates. The water is extremely salty because the water has no way out of the lake basin. Students replicate that with the following recipe: One gallon of pure water, add 18 tablespoons of baking soda, 10 tablespoons of table salt, eight teaspoons of Epsom salt, and a pinch of borax or laundry detergent. It’s not a perfect replication, because the lake water contains trace amounts of other chemicals. But it’s close enough.

To create mini-tufas, students add this water to dissolved calcium chloride, which results in tiny tufas forming at the bottom of their containers.

What are the roles of epson salt, borax, and laundry detergent here? Are they involved in Tufa formation?

Any suggestions for improved methods for growing an artificial tufa tower at home?