adding marco base rock ?

ive been doin a lot of searching and ran into some conflicting info. ive seen that you could add base rock to an established tank without it cycling and ive also seen that adding live rock to an established tank can cause a cycle, which makes perfect sense. base rock is just rock, not adding bioload to your tank when added, therefore no cycle. whereas live rock will increase your bioload and might set off a cycle so that your tank will balance itself out.

well i have 120g dt/30g sump and started with @70 lbs of marco rocks that came out of a local guy's tank, had the coraline and critters on it, etc. now im ready to buy more rock and planned to get it from marco rocks. i was planning on getting the base rock from them. but they recommended to cycle all rocks even dry before putting it in the aquarium. maybe i misread or confused my self. this is from their site...

[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]Can I add Marco Rocks right into my established tank?[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]We do not recommend our rock or any other rock right into an established tank. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]Even though Marco Rocks has been washed and dried it will still have some trapped organic material that will break down and need to cycle before it is safe to use in your tank.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]What is a cycle and how do I cycle my rock?[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]Cycle most often refers to one of two things with regard to live rock or base rock.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]a)The amount of time before your rock can act as a biological filter[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]b)The amount of time before dried organic material and die off is harmless[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]The answer to each is one in the same, when cycling your Marco Rocks simply add a cup of live sand and a small amount of live rock from an established tank to your tank. The ammonia being produced by the trapped organic material in your new dry rock will feed the beneficial bacteria and organisms as they grow in numbers and colonize your new rock (We use and recommend a nitrifying bacteria product by Fritz (turbo start 900) to help boost this). During this time you should monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You will first see ammonia spike, then nitrite and finally nitrate. Once you see ammonia and nitrite stable at -0- or very near -0- and nitrate on a steady decline, your rock is considered �cycled�. During this cycle time we recommend frequent water changes, aggressive skimming and turbulent water flow.
[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]im gonna get it, but what should i do when i get it? rinse in ro and let it go? cycle it like they say? sorry so long....
[/FONT]

 

what they mean is even though it's dry at some point it could have been live, and some organic material might have stayed on the rock(even though it was washed and cured). Curing it is just incase there was some organic material left that could decompose in your tank.

 

so, what do i need to do with it when i get it?? i just ordered it...