by uncured i meant straight from the ocean. dont put it all in at once, go half in and let the filtering bacteria develop from the stuff that dies off so that when you put the second half in you get most of the 'stuff' on your rock living. if you dump it all in at once you will get a huge ammonia spike and alot of the squirts, sponges and other life on the rock will die-off.
you dont need to spend $4500 on a skimmer, thats just silly, what size is your tank? look at http://www.reefonline.com.au for some quality skimmers, i think you'll find most of them are alot lest than what reefs will reccomend you spend he just likes scaring newbies