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.