Live Rock vs Dry live rock

[Sprzout]

So I've seen several sites offering dry live rock and wet live rock, and I'm starting to wonder over pros and cons.

Dry live rock - does it actually have bacteria on it? Or is it all dead because it's been sitting out of water for enough time to dry it out thoroughly? And if so, doesn't that mean that there are no hitchhikers like mantis shrimp and aiptasia that can cause problems? Plus, it seems to be half the price of live rock.

Wet live rock, I seem to get things I don't want with it, it's more expensive, and I would have to pay for a higher shipping cost because water weighs a LOT.

Is there an advantage to going with wet live rock? Can't I just buy a bottle of nutrients and bacteria that I can add to the water that will "supercharge" it, in effect? Or is it prolonging the cycling of the tank?

And I apologize if this seems simple, but my understanding of live rock is, "Live rock is live rock, whether it's dry or wet."

 

[Oscar47f]

Its a common question and better to be safe than sorry, to my understanding live rock has bacteria on it and is shipped wet the extra cost per pound is usually water weight with whatever hitch hikers are on it, dry rock is dry and free of any hitch hikers and pests it usually comes dry, if live rock is shipped dry it would lose a lot of the beneficial bacteria on it... so i would think the dry live rock would be bare of bacteria.

 

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

The dry rock is definitely absent of the bacteria, but does come with some sponges or other dead organic material. That's why you need to cure it for 2+ months before you can use it. I prefer it because all the money and time spent, I like to avoid any unwanted pests

 

[Ty Hamatake]

You're pretty much spot on. I see "dry live rock" referred to more often as dead rock due to the fact that everything is dead, but there are still all of the organics that were there before. Honestly just plain dry rock is your safest bet. If you're in a big hurry to cycle your tank you can go with live, but like you said, then you have hitchhikers to worry about. Dry or base rock becomes live while cycling your tank, and is far cheaper.