If you are concerned with pests (honestly the wirst oests I've gotten came from adding coral...), I'd recommend researching different sources of dry rock.
Not all dry rock is created equal. I had Caribsea "Life" rock in my first tank. 2 years later, I break it apart and it's bone dry, white in the inside, like plaster. Likely plaster. Definitely Dead rock after 2 years...
Now, I managed to jump on a local selling "dry rock" that was actually previously live rock from Fiji and Marshall islands that had been out of a tank for 5 years. That rock is light and porous all the way through--real coral skeletons from a reef. I don't recommend pulling rocks out of real reefs nowadays, but there's always the chance that someone sells old dry rocks. Put that in a tank with a bit of mature live rock and you'll be moving along quickly. Maybe there's even commercial dry rocks that are more porous like reef rocks (Caribsea rocks certainly aren't).
Not all dry rock is created equal. I had Caribsea "Life" rock in my first tank. 2 years later, I break it apart and it's bone dry, white in the inside, like plaster. Likely plaster. Definitely Dead rock after 2 years...
Now, I managed to jump on a local selling "dry rock" that was actually previously live rock from Fiji and Marshall islands that had been out of a tank for 5 years. That rock is light and porous all the way through--real coral skeletons from a reef. I don't recommend pulling rocks out of real reefs nowadays, but there's always the chance that someone sells old dry rocks. Put that in a tank with a bit of mature live rock and you'll be moving along quickly. Maybe there's even commercial dry rocks that are more porous like reef rocks (Caribsea rocks certainly aren't).
