Dry Live Rock v.s Live Rock

I think what people have already said are bang on. The trouble with adding live rock is that you do run the risk of adding good and bad critters, saying that I have had 7 successful systems over the years and always setup with live rock. I set up my current system with carribsea aragonite live, around 80lb live rock, good ro and quality salt and also ATM Colony.

I barely saw any evidence of a cycle.

In fact I had a tiny anemone attached to the rock that I bought (unbeknown to me when I purchased it) As I couldnt re-home it I left it in, this is how it looked at the end of January this year, the just hours after setting the tank up.



Most people in this hobby will say you should not add a nem to a system for 9-12 months due to the maturing process.

This is the same nem today, 5 months on, other than it wondering to the back of the tank it is very nice and healthy.



Now I am not suggesting everyone that sets up a new tank should put a nem in but in my opinion the benefits of setting up a system with live sand, rock etc are definitely beneficial and personally I wouldn't do it any other way.

I am sure many many people will disagree but this is my experience and my opinion

Good luck whatever you choose to do