Alasse

Personally i don't do any testing or even own testing kits....wether it be pH, ammonia or whatever. I can generally tell when things just arent right.

I happened to mention this at another forum and ended up getting abused and told i should never own fish as i'm a horrible fishkeeper

I do weekly water changes, with gravel cleaner. My fish appear healthy, good colour, swimming energetically etc, and so does the tank, clear water, no smell, etc

Anyway they peaked my curiousity and i took a sample down to my LFS to get it checked...the results were

PH ~ 8 (local water tested at 8.3), I knew i'd have PH probs.....only i did expect it to be acidic not the other way.....but i will be remedying that by changing to half town half rainwater mix
Ammonia ~ 0
Nitrites ~ 0
Nitrates ~ 35ppm

The tank has been up and running for not quite 4 weeks

Shastam

I had a horrible time when I first set up my goldfish tank. I couldn't figure out what was keeping my ammonia levels so high, and thought it may be due to high ph. I talked to a lot of people in my area and found that we have a high ph, and for goldfish, its not that critical. My problem was that our city water is treated with ammonia, so I had to buy something to remove it, and then it all worked out. My went from being about 8.4 down to about 7.8 and now I've got a good clean, healthy tank. I'd still monitor the water levels weekly to be sure its safe, but I think that if your tank is still new, in time your ph will settle, that was my experience.