Alright, opinions on Peat Plugs, + other substrates

In the past, I have bought those humidity domes that come with the Jiffy peat pellets. I've never really had a problem with them. I read one source that said NOT to use the Jiffy #7 Peat Pellets. Is this information correct? Right now, I'm using a 50/50 FFOF/Light Warrior mix with my germ'd seeds inside the soil. It seems like the soil gets really hard a few hours after watering it. It just looks like it would be difficult for the sprouts to come up from out of the surface in this soil mix for some reason. Should I switch back to using the peat pellets inside a humidity dome for the first week or so, or keep trying with the mix I have? The mix seems so nice and airy before I've watered it and let it sit for a couple of hours. After that it seems to get hard and compacted together. Should I switch up my mixture to simply the light warrior in the 16 oz party cups to get the seeds started or will that substrate do the same thing after watering. I'm just trying to figure out the best possible way to start my germinated seeds. I've got a bunch of different mediums at my disposal including chunky perlite, light warrior, ocean forest, composted cow manure, jiffy peat plugs, bat guano (I know bat guano is more for flowering) and earth worm castings. Anyone know the best mixture out of those to start my germinated seeds in.

Also, one more quick question. After germinating the seeds (paper towel method), I have been watering the ocean forest/light warrior mix until the water comes out of the drainage holes at the bottom of the 16 oz party cups. After that I put the germinated seeds directly into the watered substrate about an 1/8'' down. Do all of those steps sound correct? I haven't grown in over a year and I'm just trying to remember the basics. I'm not getting the results I'm used to. I'm just trying to figure out what I might be doing wrong. Thanks.