New setup cycle

Want a 125 gl Lps and softy tank. Around 100 lbs of rock of various density that I bought from lfs. Rinsed and soaked all rock in well water. Put some rock in tub of sw 1.025sg and a power head. Fed some mysis and waited about a month. Checked for nitrates, 40 ppm so I did a water change. 10 ppm, ok I thought they were now alive. Filled 125 with well water and checked plumbing, overflow box and return. No leaks. Sweet. Added salt over couple days to get 1.025 sg. Added dry rock and the rock I had in tub.
24 hrs later I wanted a base line for my tests, so I tested ammonia, nitrites and trates.
0 ammonia
5 nitrites
160 nitrates
Huh?? I forgot to rinse my tank, it had Cichlids in it.
Oops!! So I left the rock, no substrate, trying the BB for now and drained all water out. Added fresh water again to rinse out the Cichlids. Drained and refilled with well water and run for a bit. Using API salt kit I tested the fresh water and got 0 ppm readings. Don't know if salt kit works on fresh. Ok 0 so I added salt to 1.025 and waited.
0 ammonia
Nitrites still really high at 5.0 ppm
Nitrates went down to orange instead of dark red
I've been lurking this site for awhile and thought I knew what expect
My question is, is this normal? Are my rocks full of nitrates?
Thanks for the help