My water is PH 8

Question
Hello Matt, I believe I've written to you before.  I have a spare 29 gallon tank that is 30" long x 12" wide, 18" deep.  I've been putting ammonia in to begin 'cycling' for 3 days so far and also added a medium sized silk plant from my very established goldfish tank.  I also added the filter which had bacteria on it as well.  

Today, the ammonia tested .25 ppm and the Nitrite was at 0.
I'm still not going to add fish as 3 days sounds too fast and want to make sure and get the ammonia down to 0 hopefully.  

What I was dismayed about was the PH was at 8!
That goes for my two 10 gallon Betta tanks and my 75 gallon goldfish tank.  Those fish all seem to be doing fine.

I wanted to begin a tropical fish tank with the 29 gallon, but now feel I can't.  I read from a letter from 'Nicole' to someone, that PH doesn't really matter as long as there's no rapid changes for the fish.  I also don't want to use chemicals.

The fish I wanted were Blue Neon guppies (heard fancy guppies are sickly, great)OR Neon Tetras OR Cardinal Tetras.  I also wanted Julii & Panda Cory catfish with one of the other three.  

Do you think these fish types I mentioned would thrive in my PH water?  I don't want to shorten their lives/make them sick. Everytime I think I got it right with the types I want or whatever, I find out some other information that blows my original idea out of the water!!

Thank you!
Paula

Answer
Hi Paula,
If you are using ammonia to cycle a tank, I believe you are doing a fishless cycle.  To do a fishless cycle you need to bring the ammonia up to 5ppm.  Since you are not using fish to cycle, you dont have to worry about the ammonia getting to high and kill the fish because you have no fish.  This is the advantage of doing a fishless cycle.  Even after ammonia reaches 0ppm, nitrites will rise, and you will need to wait for this to become 0ppm also.  You will not see readings of nitrite until about 2-3 weeks and you wont see nitrates until about 1-2 weeks after that.  The whole process takes a month or longer.  But, by you seeding with the silk plant and the filter media, you will decrease the time of cycling.  The more you seed, the less time it takes.  

Usually, if the pH is not in the extreme zones and is not fluctuating up and down constantly, then the fish will be able to adapt.  Guppies and other live bearers such as platies, mollies, endlers do well in high pH water.  Neons and cardinals however do best in acidic water of around 6.0-7.0.  However I do have neons in 7.6pH and I have had them for a long time, I have not seen any problems.  It will be a hit and miss for you in the 8pH.  It is worth a shot.  

There is no medicine to lower the pH and no medicine should no be used.  pH down and pH up only temporary lower the pH.  You would have to constantly add drops every day to keep it low and by the end of the month, the fish will be swimming in jello because of so much medications being added.  Some natural ways to lower the pH is by adding Sphagnum Peat Moss bale.  It is very acidic and many hobbyists use it to lower the pH of the tank.  BUT it also releases tannins, causing the water the turn a but brown and yellow.  It is not harmful.  Tannins actually are believed to prevent disease and make fish feel at home, but many people do not like the color added to the water.   
-Matt-