There is no die-off. I have about 100 lbs. of rock that has been curing in a Rubbermaid container since December. It got to the point a while back where it was completely cycled, but that was a while ago, and with no SW tank until now, I didn't keep feeding the bacteria.
As for an update, I threw some pellet food in there, as the flake food didn't seem to be doing the job. I haven't tested the water lately. I was really busy last week. But I can smell ammonia in the water so I'd guess that the cycling is coming along. As for pics, well, it looks exactly the same as the other pics lol! And Yonsu, I'm using a 10 W Coralife 50/50 screw-in CF bulb. Hopefully it will work ok for some easy corals. If not, I'll upgrade to the Coralife 18 W 9 inch fixture eventually.