Hi,
I've removed the ARef and also added some 100nF caps as you suggested. It appears that there is not much difference.
I did run I2C scanner and am getting the following:
I2C Scanner
Scanning...
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at addt address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device foun⸮
I2C Scanner
Scanning...
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I2C device found at address 0xE8 !
I2C device found at address 0x68 !
I should be more particular with my results. When I tried to print out anything from the RTC (say time or date), I get stuff like "⸮譭⸮⸮⸮⸮b⸮0b⸮r,".