The bottom line of the discussion above was the cooking the rock in a tub wouldn’t really help it that much especially if it is already wet. If you did water changes on it or put a media back or reactor with GFO on the tub then it would be a different story. Waiting for bacteria to consume phosphates won’t get you anywhere.
Wish I had more time to help out in person, but things are busy here. If you have other questions post them up.
Glad your getting back into things. 
yes , cooking can reduce available phosphate. the bacteria that died, left phosphate in the rock, and new bacteria will also use it up reproducing. some also goes into the water. So you do water changes. that removes both disolved and bacterial phosphate. or you can hook the dark curing tank up to a refugium. Rock in the dark, fuge with a light to grow macro. that would complete the clean up cycle.
In our tanks we have fuges, skimmers, corals and microfauna to remove or consume excess bacteria and nutrients. which is why i prefer plenum sand beds. Properly maintained, they never go anerobic or produce sulfides to be released by diggers. they stay sweet and clean and process nitrates to gas and phosphates to microbes much faster than anerobic deep sand beds do.
I hope you have room for a fuge Brett, that will help it long term. Read up on plenum sand beds to see if you want to add one to the tank. the trick is to hve acess to the back areas of the sand bed for cleaning. thats where detritus settles and causes problems, behind the rocks, in back corners.
well went to home depot today and got all the plumbing. I set everything up so tommrow ill be able to test it out. Ill post some pictures of it later.
im pretty happy with the way everything turned out.
ken- i think im going bare bottom. i dont really know how to take care of a sand bed, and i can get better flow without a sandbed.
the only reason i might go with a sand bed is so i can get a wrasse. i know they sleep in the sand bed, and it would probably stress them out not having one.
ok another question— i have a denitrator, should i run it while the tank is cycling?
OK, you will have a nitrate reduction unit. Thats good too. My hunch would be to start the denitrator running right from the start. I believe it takes one of those units 4-8 weeks to build up the full load of bacteria on the media. so starting with a low load clean tank will allow it to step up its bacteria growth as you add more bio load to the tank over coming months. that should help keep the tank parameters in good shape rather than wait until you build up a larger nitrate level and then start it.
ok as promised here are some pictures
Still have some cleaning up to do.
Looking good so far, glad your back in the game. Good luck with your new tank.
Ah, so much potential. Looks like you are moving along quickly Brett. Good job!
i have a question
when i soak the live rock w/ vinegar should i use ro/di or can i use ro waste water. thanks
btw tank is comming along, still gunna be a couple of days befor its running.
RO waste water will be more then enough. Too be honest I would probably use tap out of laziness.
If there isn’t an awful lot of crap on the outside of the rocks you want to scrub off you could probably skip the vinegar and just rinse and scrub with a hose outside. If you have access to a power washer even better just don’t point it at yourself, they can be dangerous.
i can probably get a power washer, i believe its at my brothers house. good advice, i guess i cant spray my little brother.
I use tap as well. The vinegar does a good job in itself, and phosphates are not a worry at this point anyway. Plus you can get a much better cleaning before and after if you use something like a hose or power washer. Good luck!
How’s it going Brett?
the tank is about half way full. should be running by saturday evening though. need to make about 40 to 50 more gallons of water.
i really like the way the rock is turning out. Its a very open scape, plenty of room for corals to grow into. plenty of room for all the fishies too. Im so excited for this tank. ill try and get some pictures with my web cam, as it turns my mom has taken it to Chicago with her.