Cycling with established media

Question
Hi Jennifer,
I should know this answer but, I don't.  When I cycled my 30GL I used live rock, live sand, a filter and ammonia.
Anyhow, I finally realized after some lost fish, that I need a QT.  Can I take 5lbs of my live rock or however many LBS I need to steal out of my already established tank along with the 5# of live sand already in the QT and will that be suitable enough without having to add ammonia?
Another question if you don't mind: Let's say I came to your establishment to buy some live rock that has been sitting in your tanks for at least 5 weeks; I then purchase it and take it home with me (you packaged it nicely to keep it "alive" so to speak.  It takes me five minutes to get home, can I add it straight into my tank being that it's already cured?  Thank you for any advice you give.

Answer
Hi Laurie. When setting up your QT try to use as much stuff from your already established tank as you can. Some live rock, gravel and if you have similar filtration on both you can even use some of the old filter media from your established tank. Anything that may contain your good bacteria will help to cycle your new tank faster. You will still go through a small cycling process however you should not get any high readings for ammonia or nitrite like you would setting up a tank using all new stuff. The cycling period should not take as long either. I have had luck with setting up another tank and I used filter pads, live rock and a few pounds of gravel from my already established tank. My new tank never had a reading for ammonia or nitrite and was fully cycled with in two weeks. You will still need to put a source of ammonia in your new tank weather it be adding ammonia to your tank or some small fish or other creature. Without a source of ammonia in your tank the good bacteria will not thrive and colonize your tank the way you will need it to in order to establish a good balance in your tank.
To answer your second question I would say whenever you buy live rock give it the sniff test. Sounds crazy but fully cured live rock should only have a slight odor to it when you get it home. If you smell it and it smells like the back bay at low tide then it is not fully cured. When live rock comes to us it is not cured. We will put it in our live rock bin and sometimes while it is curing it can smell up the whole fish department! Frequent water changes are performed over the course of a week or two and the smell subsides. This is how I know it is cured. Like I said it may have a slight odor to it but it should not be so strong that you can smell it without putting your nose right up to it. It is then safe to add to your tank. If it is a new tank that you are trying to cycle then it is okay to add at any time even if it stinks. Thats why some people use it to cycle their tank. The ammonia being put off by all the dead and decaying organisms is introduced to a new tank to start the cycling process off. However cycling a tank with live rock only is very unreliable due to the fact that if the rock is fully cured your not really introducing ammonia into your tank but just the good bacteria. These bacteria will eventually die off if there is no ammonia provided for them to live on and the proper colonization never gets established. I kind of went off on a tangent there but I think it is very important to understand the way live rock works in a newly established aquarium. Hope I answered your questions and always feel free to ask me anything!