Back and forth on live rock or dry rock

[Tired]

Live sand has good bacteria on it, and some helpful detritivores, but doesn't really have cool sponges and other rock-clinging life. It doesn't tend to bring in pods, either. The worms are nice, but worms and bacteria are all you tend to get, maybe a few tiny snails. And that's if you buy live sand that someone got out of the ocean- if you get the "live sand" that comes in a bag off the store shelf, it might have some bacteria, but there won't be much else. It also doesn't have the benefit of providing you with rock that's already too covered in algae for pest algae to have an easy time of taking over.
Live sand and dry rock is better than dry sand and dry rock, but live rock is better than live sand. Both is great.

 

[KyleJ42]

This was my first ever “long term” established tank started with dry pukani. I had a 20L beforehand which became the sump for this one. It was over 2 years old before i moved and had to tear it down. From a more beginner standpoint, it worked to get my feet wet and enjoy softies and lps.

although i loved it and took care of this tank like crazy, it was a royal you know what. Seemed like i could never get it stable enough to just let it sit and enjoy it. Was always battling gha or cyano or bropsis etc. i was siked because i never got dinos, but i got pretty much everything else lol. That being said, it was still enjoyable and i got to create a mini reef, but i went with live rock from TBS this time around, so im curious to see how this tank is compared to my old one.

 

[JohnnyDreadlock]

I guess it all depends on how you feel. I’ve bought live rock from a store just to get one big Oenone Fulgida. After that I just set up my 65 gallon with all dry rock and there was no issues. I upgraded from that tank into my 80 gallon. From start to finish I never had issues with dinos like people claimed I would. Just take your time with it and feed bacteria from the start of the cycle to help create a nice population prior to adding fish.