You want the rock there to provide shelter for fish and inverts, it's fine to have some in the sump but definitely provide enough shelter for your critters.
If it were my setup to convert I would probably add ~150lbs of dry rock, check out CACO reef in Calgary He can probably also set you up with sand. This would be pest free and significantly cheaper than buying liverock from the store or even from other reefers. Being dry you get more rock/lb than you would buying wet rock. Then add the remaining rock as live stuff from a store or another reefer. This will seed the dry rock, which will become live over time. Another good source of beneficial life (pods, brittle stars, etc.) would be handfuls of Chaeto algae from other reefers.
There's no reason whatsoever that you can't start as a "Fish Only with Live Rock" (FOWLR) and save the $$$ on the light and possibly skimmer, and grow into a reef over time.
Good luck
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