Definitely agree with this.If had the opposite experience. I started with Dry rock. I dont purposely add 'gunk or ocean dirt' becasue I dont have access to it. That said - I tended when starting to add MORE coral than less - which quickly increased the biodiversity of the tank. IMHO (and its heresy I know) - some of the delay/problems with tanks etc - relate to this extremely slow pace. Like putting 1 small frag in 150 gallon tank. That just to me gives lots of surface area for algae etc to take hold. Now - I also have a fair bit of experience - and keep my parameters very stable - so that also plays a role....
Its interesting what I dont understand is how some many people are successful keeping their tanks with extremely low nutrients - and adding no extra stuff - and others who do well putting a bunch of stuff in - both sides swear by their methods - but they are polar opposites. I have a feeling it relates to the type of coral being kept in each
I do add a lot of coral at once as well.
I believe bacteria is a key component to dry rock, the rest comes in time anyway.
I had just started to sterilized on my last tank and got a dino outbreak. Beat it out quickly by adding life and coral.
I also feed heavy fwiw.