cycling.... few questions

[e46er]

so i have a 120 G and am using seachem reef salt
with 120 lbs rock and 150 lbs sand cycling and i have been using cycle as per directions.... and i had no die off from my rock after 10 days becuase it was kept in a 55G barrel with no circulation for a long period of time
well i used pure ammonia as my ammonia source which i cycled my planted tank with so after a week or so these were my test results

ph 7.7 was 8.2 last week?
ammonia 6.1ppm checking daily and it drops so i add a little bit more to keep it around 5.6-6.1
nitrite buried on scale at 3.3 ppm
nitrate buried on scale at 110 ppm
KH 80 ppm
Ca 420 ppm

im not sure what caused the ph to drop any ideas?


i have no tank inhabitants so i dont need to do a WC during the cycle to drop the nitrates do i? just a huge one at end of cycle possibly 2 or 3 to get the nitrates down?

also i seem to have red looking stuff growing on certain parts of my tank im guessing this is the no flow areas??

i went to the LFS today and grabbed some loc line Y so now i have 4 outlets from ym sump return and 4 outlets from my closed loop should be enough outlets for a 4 foot tank.......

also my alk should be slightly higher maybe seachem reef builder since my salt obviously isnt buffering it high enough...thoughtsÉÉ
thanks in advance