I do a shallow bed .. I have a mix of sand grain size .. where I have less flow (blowing of sand) I have a fine grade .. areas with heavy flow I have a bigger grain of sand ! Personally I don’t think it really matters if it’s live or dry when starting a tank .. as we tend too add bacteria anyway !!
You can do both dry or live depending on your preference. Live comes with the bacteria to start up your biological filtration through the sand. I recommend grainy aragonite sand for a tank with higher flow and fine sand for low flow.