i don't get this. i thought dry/base rock had no cycle time because it was basically stripped of life and often times bleached. it is the live rock that needs to be cycled because it is what still has life/die off on it.

i have heard of 'curing' live rock to prohibit the future release of massive amounts of nitrates/phosphates, but that doesn't add up. how is curing for a couple weeks gonna gonna prevent something that usually [according to various posts on multiple forums] takes years to happen?

i used all base rock on my first tank seeding with ~1lb. lr, and had no detectable cycle. sure in the beginning i had nitrates of ~5-10 depending on the two test packs i had [lamotte, api], but never a bloom of any of the standard types expected during cycle. on my second tank, i used all live totoka rock. it is beautiful rock and quite expensive...and it caused more algae than i have ever had. during the cycle i had diatoms, hair, brown slime, cyano, all kinds. now it is fine and looks amazing, but it was a rough sell to keep it.

just my opinion based on experience, it might work different for you.

~alex