** NOW** Live Rock ... about die-off in 12-14hrs

[fluval303]

I purchased 50 lbs of very live rock and 50 lbs live sand from an established system this morning... it was taken out of the water for the first time about 10am or so... it's almost 10pm now (same day) and i'm splitting the sand and rock into two new 20gal nanos... with new RO water/salt mix. the sand was scooped out at about 1 and transported by bucket with a little water from the tank... it stayed submerged. the rock was transported in buckets also but dry. my plans are to just add a heater and a couple of hob filters temporarily to clear the water. then let it re-cycle. I have heard of dipping the rock in a cpncentrated salt mix will drive the hitch hikers from the rock so i can remove any unwanted life.
My questions are...
1 how much die-off can i expect?
2 should i do anything to the rock before i fill it up?
3 if i should dip the rock... what do i look for to discard. I want to keep any good critters.
4 water changes?? how often?
I just wanna make sure i do this at least semi-correct... I'm hoping that this established rock and sand will cycle quick and preserve the growth.
Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions. I'm working on it now... so pm me or post if you're reading tonight.. it's about 10pm central time here.
Fluval303

 

[shrkbait]

You said you got the rock from an established tank right...well, was the tank doing well with little or minimal bad stuff. There is a good chance you dont have that much if any bad hitchhickers on it.
The die off might not be too major. Watch your water chemistry over the next few weeks and let it cycle. You might not see much of a spike at all. NO WATER CHANGES TILL THE CYCLE IS DONE. Very important. Watch your lighting time on the tank as it cures...dont overdo it or you'll have algae problems like nothing else. I put some fiji rock in my tank when I started. I also had live sand that I added. I also added some bio substance with bacteria for cycling and my tank took a week to cycle. The rock went through 3 weeks of die off and Im paying the price for doing too much too fast.(cyano, Dead fish, dinoflagulates, blaa, blaa blaa.

The high salt dip.....I dont know. I dont have knowlege or experience in this area.
HTH