1. The more LR you use to seed, the faster you will have the tank ready. I won't give any specific amount of week since that varies (some people who starts with matured LR only won't even have any cycle). I personally prefers to get LR from reefers instead of LFS since LR from reefers have a much much less chance of any pest.
2. You would still need to feed the cycle. By adding LR, you are introducing bacteria in the system which will need food to multiply. Without the initial LR (called seeding), you would be starting the system without any bacteria and hence the bacteria will take much longer to appear in your system.
3. LR is only LIVE because of the bacteria. There will possibly be other living stuffs (algae, hitchhiker, pests, etc.) but basically, LFS keep LR connected to their systems to keep them live (generally, not all I guess).
SW do have many schools of thoughts but only few of them are correct. Sometimes, you just have to read through all and be the judge of the correct one yourself. If you read "LR is bad" and another article says "LR is good", be our own judge to see which one sounds "right".
If you transport cured LR from LFS to your home, you will basically have NO dieoffs and the bacteria will be living on it. Uncured ones will have a different stories and I am not too familiar with it. So when you put it in your system, the bacteria will spread over your macro rocks and thus seeding takes place. And then you start cycling with some sort of method (like shrimp) and the bacteria, which is already there, will multiply and BAM! You will have bacteria all over your rocks in....oh well....due time.
Tried my best
