Its hard to say....depends on how well your live rock was to begin with and how much stuff is in there that will die or has died and add to the spike. I usually look at what is in or on LR that lives as a bonus, such as serpent brittle stars etc. My local lfs (marine stuff only) has the best LR and sand around bar none........His rock is all fully cured before its put out for sale, in huge tanks, same for his sands......and he will not ship anything other than dry goods..........If you buy stuff like LR/LS from him, you can normally get it home set it up and start to stock the tank within 48 hours or so. He provides plastic and foam containers for all live sand and rock that need to be returned after you get the stuff in the tank and he packs it in sw as well. LIvestuff you buy there is placed in customer tank setup deal and once purchase is made, its then gathered up and packed.......no time setting on the counter waiting for checkout etc or in a plastic bag.......
Do you have a friend with a sw setup close, that it could be moved to until your sure your tank has stabilized properly? Or perhaps another container with sw only that could be used until then? I do not know much abaout cycling as I have never really had a need to, due to the LFS being so close and the livestock condition he sells.......I know about how the cycle works etc, but no experience in actually ever having to do it....