If you can afford the time and want to avoid any cycling in-tank, plus that 8-year-old rock may need a cleaning;
After using the epoxy, cure it for a day or 2 in a tub/bucket with a heater and powerhead. This way you don't get any stray epoxy in your tank/on your equipment.
This will also give you the opportunity to test the water for any undesirable levels of phosphates, and you can give the rock a decent 'swish' to remove any detritus when it comes out of the tub/bucket.
If it has high PO4 now's the time to deal with it, and if you do the below, you can use that new rock to support your new tank while you deal with the old rock.
Make the additional structure and place it in a tub/bucket with a heater and powerhead.
After the epoxy is cured, change the water if there's epoxy residue.
Now add enough pure household ammonia to raise it to about 5-6ppm.
Wait for it to drop near zero (probably a week) and start testing Nitrites.
Keep dosing NH3 to about 1-2ppm.
During the next couple weeks, NO2 will go out of your test kit range. Once NO2 starts to drop you're almost there.
Keep NH3 about 1-2ppm until after about 3-4 weeks it can process 1-2ppm NH3 daily with no residual NO2 results; ie you don't have any NH3 or NO2 test results 8-24 hours after adding the liquid NH3.
Then give it a good rinse in clean SW to remove what will be a huge level of NO3, place it in clean water for 1-2 days and test NO3. If it's staying low, it's ready to add to your tank cycle-free, and now it'll support your new tank if you need to deal with the original rock.
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