The bumps in the pH are probably from the ammonia you are adding. With hardware store ammonia the pH jumps up right after you add it and settles back down a few hours later.
The bacteria causing the cloudiness have to have a food source. Maybe its something coming out of the driftwood.
If you can add ammonia and get 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite the next day, and see those results a few times in a row, its cycled.