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I started the setup. Put all the chemicals.
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What were
"all of the chemicals" you added?
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the tank cycled and bloom and clouded everything was going normally, until my tank began to cloud.
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I am confused...what do you mean the tank clouded up and was good until it began to cloud?
Cloudy water isn't necessarily a part of cycling and so this isn't any sort of milestone or indicator of progress.
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I made the mistake of listening to someone at petco who said that I should put that filter sponge thing over the siphon because I was concerned that they would get sucked up.
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Why would that be a mistake?
What are you trying to not suck up?
The only thing you are going to accomplish by putting a 'sponge thing' over your vacuum is ensure that you cannot suck up and remove the detritus which will eventually degrade water quality.
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What happened was that because I covered the filters they stop to almost nothing of filtration.
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What do you mean you covered the filters up?
What did they stop doing?
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Now the pH in my tank has spiked.
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No it hasn't. pH is not a measurement of a chemical like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, copper, etc.... It should not rise or fall like ammonia and nitrite levels will during a cycle.
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I was told to do a water change but later learn that that would raise it
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It could, but not normally. You can't avoid doing water changes anyways. If your tank is still cycling with fish in it, you have to change some water so you remove the toxic ammonia and nitrite levels.
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i want my tank to be neutral at the pH 7.0
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Why? There is little advantage to doing this unless you are absolutely sure that you can maintain that pH. Additionally....
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should i go with the driftwood?
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You have no idea if the wood will change the pH to exactly 7.0 or even change it at all. That would depend on what your Kh is and by the way it sounds, your Kh might be very low, which allows the pH to change more often.
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if i do later on how do i filter out the coloring?
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You can soak it in another vessel and continually replace all of the water until it comes out clear all of the time.
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and the tannins are they really that bad of coloring?
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They can be. I assume that it would depend on how much water is involved and how much tannins the wood releases.
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is there any tips or tricks i should try?
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Yes there are a few. However, I strongly suggest that you click HERE and read the article on cycling an aquarium since I think you may be confused as to what is going on here.
Otherwise, the best 'tip' or 'trick' that you can use is exactly what Loman and ...KEP... said; leave the pH alone, stop trying to aim at one specific number, and make sure that the naturally occurring pH of your tank will remain steady. Freshwater fish can thrive in a wide range of pH levels...you just need to be sure that you acclimate them when you bring them home.
Additionally, keep in mind that your changing pH can have some devastating effects on your fish. In fact, a change in pH of one number (for example, from 7.0 to 8.0...7.0 to 6.0) the change you are creating means that the water is either 10 times more alkaline or 10 times more acidic than before. So, your seemingly small change from pH 7.5 to 7.0 means that the water is going to be five times more acidic (or less alkaline, however you want to look at it) than it is right now. This is a pretty dramatic change for your fish to endure and needs to be done very very slowly. Obviously the problem is you can't control the speed of a pH change when you are adding driftwood or whatever method you choose. On the other hand, those chemicals are also hard to use and will almost literally turn you into a slave to a pH test kit so you can be ready to add more when it starts to wear off. Trust us, the 7.5 is a very acceptable pH for nearly any FW fish you bring home.
