Curing dry rock

[sobe]

Use a hard bristle brush as well to scrub the rock. You know once it's completely white and it's "dead" algae will still grow on it depending what kind of algae you are looking for, you will still get green, brown and possibly hair.
What you want is coralline to grow on the rock and coralline can only be introduced to the tank

But Bubble algae shouldn't not come back as long as rock has been completely dried out and crud brushed off.

You could however leech phosphate from the rock from its nook and crannies. Use a something that can take care of phosphate after your vinegar bath. I haven't tried it but use Fozdown or lanthalum to suck out phosphate, gfo is expensive, just measure the phosphate before you start cycling the rocks to see if it's leeching.