coralline algea back from the dead?

So I started with old live rock, that someone let dry completely out for 8 months in their garage. I did notice that some of it had a few dots of purple on it, but it was completely dry. I put that into a sealed tub of RO with pump for 6 months with water changes along the way. So now that everything is setup Ive noticed pink and purple dots all over my rocks. Shouldnt it be dead? Can spores dry out for that period of time and survive?

 

I'm no expert on coralline,but i had the same happen a while back with old dry rock.I was told the spores go dorment and can remain that way for a long period of time.

 

I have a friend with a predator tank that had some LR in the sump for additional biological filtration. It was taking up too much room so I moved one large piece to the tank. Somehow, the coralline survived with absolutely no light at all for over a year. Once I put it in the tank (that only has lights on it for a couple of hours per day, it started growing again.