What would you rather have for rock??

[MitchM]

It really depends on what you want out of your aquarium.

If I was in your shoes, I would get a piece of the freshest live rock that I could find.
I'm really interested in all the diversity that comes with it - so called "pests" and all.
You can't get that on dead, dried, base rock.

[04V10]

I'll have to talk to Eli. If I could use a few pieces of live rock from my display and then the rest dry rock that'd be awesome. I won't be staring at it too much to see what comes on the new live rock, so that's not too important to me.

[kien]

I'm a strong proponent of live rock as well. I would never suggest that dry rock doesn't work though. I've seen lots of nice tanks that started with dry rock. It really is just a matter of personal preference. I for one love all the live hitchhikers that you get from live rock. Many people simple do not :-)

[ReEf BoSs]

The biggest factor next time on a new tank would be cost comparison for me dry rock being a lot cheaper.

[Seriak]

I used live rock from a fellow reefer (Marco Rock) for my DT. I had a minimal cycle, no cyano and very little other algae.

I used 100% dry rock for my frag tank. I had a long cycle, no cyano, but crazy (I mean completely covering the entire tank) amounts of hair algae that lasted 2 months.

[freezetyle]

Originally Posted by Seriak

I used 100% dry rock for my frag tank. I had a long cycle, no cyano, but crazy (I mean completely covering the entire tank) amounts of hair algae that lasted 2 months.

I had the same experience when I set up my display tank with dry. It was brutal to deal with.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by ReEf BoSs

The biggest factor next time on a new tank would be cost comparison for me dry rock being a lot cheaper.

You get what you pay for