A Cycling Question

[Werbo]

"There is no point in buying live rock and killing it by cooking it IMO although I fully respect the opinions of those who disagree."

I disagree. Just so you know you are not "killing" live rock when you leave it in the dark for a period of time. Your goal is to kill unwanted algae. You want to perserve the benifical bacteria in the rock by cycling the rock in pristine water absent of light. Unfortunately other organisms that need light will also perish. Some of these will also come back such as many benificial sponges even after 4 weeks of darkness. Your rock will still be live rock after a prolonged period of darkness.

This hobby has many variables that can lead to long term problems. Uncured live rock can leach nitrates and phosphates for many months and feed algae living on uncured live rock.