It's not all roses. I had a pair of very young clowns, as well as an arrow crab and peppermint shrimp. I was using a Red Sea testing kit to check my parameters. Apparently, unless the
pH is way off, every test is 8.0. So...although the
pH was low it stayed stable.
What I didn't realize was the
pH was dropping lower and lower and worse at night. I am not sure what started the slide. I did lose my first peppermint. I assume he died and was eaten by my nasarius snail. About a month later, my large (3/4") clown disappeared, overnight. He was fine in the afternoon, he ate well that morning. I lost my small (1/2") clown a couple af days later. After that, I took a water sample to my
LFS for a test. The parameters were off, but with two dead fish that was to be expected. The
PH was 7.5. I dosed with buffer and did several water changes of over a gallon. Unfortunately, it was to late for the peppermint and arrow crab. The snail tried to get them too, but I beat him to it. Now, three weeks after this all started everything is back to normal. I even brought home an electronic
PH meter to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Any body have better luck with other test kits? I really don't trust my Red Sea anymore.
Here are some pics before the problem:
,
,
and a tank shot,
,
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
Linear Mode
