Henry405
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I think carey has the same problem too. 0 nitrates without a clue how haha. I would love to have 0 nitrate.
What are you using as your substrate?
I know this may be late, but I'm having great results from the Seachem brand PH Buffer. My PH stayed around 7.8 to about 8.0 before i started using this product. Now 3 days into it, its steady at 8.2 ish.. I was cautious of using products but i cant risk losing any of these pricey fish.
IMO, your starting to get too carried away with trying to get everything "perfect".
Your water parameters are fine. Take some time and read this article.
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
"I suggest that aquarists maintain alkalinity between about 2.5 and 4 meq/L (7-11 dKH, 125-200 ppm CaCO[SIZE=-1]3[/SIZE] equivalents)"
"the pH range from 7.8 to 8.5 is an acceptable range for reef aquaria"
A fish flicking against the rock is usually a sign of external parasites, namely ich. Did you quarantine any of your fish before you added them to your display tank?