Go to the helpful articles forum and read on page one the article posted beginners guide 1st. most of your questions will be answered there. do not add anything until your ammonia and nitrites are at 0. if you have algae add clean up crew 1st and if you can keep all alive for a month add other animals very slowly. hope this helps. the article addresses cycling with live rock. it is a long article but has a lot of the information you need to answer your initial questions. while you are in the helpful articles you will see other articles for the beginner, newbie, etc. and other articles that may be of interest to you. its free, so help your self. post back here in your thread anytime with any additional questions you may have. good luck keep us posted. and happy fishin