I went probably 60% dry rock on my current tank. No problems at all. Spyd (Derek) went 95% dry rock and his tank is doing really really well. It probably takes a little longer to get established but it works.

I would go all dry man made rock in my DT an then put some LR in my sump.....I don't like the pest algae that can come in on LR.

But you added it to your sump, which in all likelihood is attached to your tank? So it's still there.

As an aside, I just found 3 mojano anemones in my tank after 4 years, so the pests will show up regardless of what rock you use :)

Agreed Brad. Especially mine. If it has, lets say, bubble algae as ones problem or a turf algae, then it would migrate to the new rock, IMO.
That then defeats the purpose of going all dead rock in the fist place?

Thanks for the call and great advice and discussion Eli. Top notch customer service as always.

Thank you,...it was my pleasure:biggrin:
Hope you like what I picked for you ...lots of photos:biggrin:
Cheers

All arrived. Yes, I like. Very good selection. Now have to assemble. Thanks

I feel like there should be a fourth option:

I would get natural dry rock and seed it with high quality live rock that is ordered directly from the distributor, and picked up before the box from the airplane is even opened. You couldn't pay me to put live rock that's been in a holding tank in my aquarium. Pests rarely come from the rock, they come from the holding tanks.

That is a good option but how many people would actually do buy live rock directly from the airplane landing,...i would sell rock that way but no one will follow through with the purchase...That's why I always say pick your live rock pieces carefully and from a trusted tank.:biggrin:

I did it that way when I set up my current tank, but it required making a special arrangement with (the now closed) Red Coral. Rather than having the rock ordered especially for me, I just asked to purchase an entire box worth from his next order, and the night it arrived I picked it up before it was unboxed. I can imagine that if you're ordering the rock just for that person it might be harder to arrange, but in that case he was ordering it anyway and if I had flaked off for some reason it still would have been sold.

I know not everyone can do that every time, but the beauty with dry rock is that you can cycle it perfectly fine without having anything to seed it with, the bacteria you need will proliferate eventually, so you can take your time tracking down the perfect pieces of live rock to 'seed' the critters and algaes you can't otherwise buy. In any case, I don't think I'd ever set up a tank without most of the rock being dry natural rock of some sort again.