Originally Posted by Reefer Rob (Post 973216)

From my experience with the 3 tanks I started this way, for fish you don't have to do anything different than you would with live rock, as long as you're seeding with live rock. Just start with a small bio-load and slowly work your way up. The rock colonizes with bacteria quite quickly, I never had a problem with ammonia nitrite or nitrate.

For corals you will likely have to wait until the PO4 drops before you can give them enough light. Especially with the last tank, the dry rocks were always covered in algae, while the live rock I seeded with had no growth.