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If the rock has been allowed to fully cure (or has been cooked) so that there is nothing left dead, dying or decaying on it, you won’t have to wait long at all.
The last tank I set up from scratch I bought fully cured live rock, brought it home and put it in my tank. I turned on all the pumps and skimmer, and let it sit in the dark for five weeks. During that time I made sure all my parameters were stable, such as temp, specific gravity, calcium and alk. And I made sure all my automated and manual support structure for those parameters was working ok. I didn’t pay much attention to ammonia, nitrate or nitrite, because I knew those would cycle through during the five-week darkness phase.
When I was done I performed an 80% water change, ramped up the photoperiod to what I wanted, then immediately started to populate it with Seriatopora, Pocillopora, Pavona, Stylophora and Montipora. Once I saw a light dusting of algae on the rocks and glass, I bought about a dozen Margarites and about 80 astreas.
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Where are those nuclear-powered copepods when you need 'em?
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