Hello From a Newbie

[sphelps]

Hey dude! Welcome to the dark side!

No sure on your plans for the rock but since it's from another tank and already dead I would personally cure it with fresh water before putting it in the tank. The rock will have lots of dead matter and a build up of nutrients from the previous tank, using fresh water will allow you to remove all this quickly and at minimal cost. Put the rock in some kind of container with fresh water and lots of water flow, change the water daily until the rock basically doesn't smell anymore (may take a couple weeks). Then you can re-cure the rock in your tank without polluting your new system and avoid most of the algae blooms and high nitrate levels.

Cheers!