this will help in planning
nobody in reefing has overstocked a tank and caused it to crash due to ammonia noncontrol
your risk is behavioral and disease issues, not cycling. we have examples too, such as the guy who added twenty clowns (juvies, still it's twenty at once) to his tank that only had two to begin with/had no where to house them being raised due to a tank break I think it was. all reef tanks can take on instant bioload without risk to cycle. there aren't any fail examples for it, pretty neat considering the number of uploaded tanks to the web
reason this rule is tied to our reefs, though the tanks differ: we all stack copious rocks in the display, Ive never seen a reef that hadn't. that ratio of surface area/current and placement exceeds the highest bioload per gallon any of us has seen in the densest stocked reef tank. even in nanos, it'll be disease or behavior killing if there's issues.
source for proof: any seneye owner can confirm. other test takers will be in a constant state of cycle doubt, depending on the tints yielded that day. if u don't own a seneye just trust the rule.