Wet vs dry live rock

Hello!
I am researching starting a Saltwater set up. Which rock is best to start with? I am not in any rush.

I heard there is a risk of parasites and bad algae with wet rock. Is this a real/significant risk? What do you seasoned reefers use?

 

Usually once you put the rocks in they will be wet whether you want them to be or not...

 

I personally recommend to my customers to start with 1/5 live rock and the rest being dry rock. It minimizes the risk for nuisance algae and other parasites while still gaining the benefit of having the good things on the wet rock.

Usually once you put the rocks in they will be wet whether you want them to be or not...

Live rock is wet before you add it to the tank. It's kept wet to preserve any life that may have followed the rock from the ocean. Dry rock is usually mined rock from ancient reefs or man-made rock. There is no life on them at all.

 

Lol it was a joke; trying to liven up the forum.

 

Lol it was a joke; trying to liven up the forum.

I laughed

 

Thanks guys!

 

You still need live rock to seed the dry rock with good bacteria. I'm going this route in my tank- 20lbs live rock and 30lbs dry rock with some base rock as well.

 

Thanks! Won't need the live rock immediately though right? Can cycle with dry rock for a while then add some live rock?

I was going to cycle with a prawn from the supermarker

 

No, but live rock will help the cycling. Plus, there will be a die-off depending on how long it took to ship to the lfs and how they store it, so if you add live rock to the tank after cycling and you may trigger a mini-cycle. Adding the live rock right away helps build your biological filter faster.