75G cycling done; ammonia hovering at 2ppm

[Zizi]

Experienced aquarists, I need your help please! I did tons of research prior to setting up the tank and continued to research as the tank was cycling, but I'm stuck.

I have a 75-gallon tank that finished cycling about 1 week ago;cycling took 8 weeks. Fish: 7 platies, 6 mollies, and 11 neon tetras.

I added the Mollies (4 and then 2 more later) about 2 weeks ago; one was apparently pregnant as we now have 6 fry (rescued from being "dinner") that are in a mesh breeder tank.

Problem: Tank ammonia level has remained between 1-2ppm for the last several days, despite daily water changes of 25-50%. I tested the pH today and it is about 7.9, which I read is too high for the fish I have.

The fish look and act fine, but of course, I want to get that ammonia to 0. I have removed the waste from the canister filter, replaced the carbon media, rinsed the ceramic rings, cleaned the gravel, and have not fed the fish (except the fry) for about 3 days. I am pretty sure I don't overfeed the fish, as I've read so much about how bad that is for the fish and the tank.

Questions:
1) I have an AquaTop CF500UV with 4 filters (1 course plastic filter, 1 bag activated carbon, 2 levels ceramic rings). How clean should it be to keep the good bacteria but have good water flow?

2) Should I just keep doing daily water changes?

3) Should I add anything to lower the pH?

Thank you.

 

[bud29]

hello zizi, and welcome to the forum.

pH is not of much concern, many fish can acclimate to any pH, as long as you avoid absolute extremes. I would say do as many water changes needed to get the ammonia down. This may mean two or three 50% water changes in a day. As for cleaning filter media, I quickly swish my filter media in the bucket of dirty tank water when doing a water change. I do this once a week. Good luck!