look at it this way , do you want pests or not
I think everyone of us in the hobby will say take your time , don’t kill this hobby for yourself out the gate , imo I bought rock from big als , aquarium by design (not around anymore) and it was good stuff , just get what looks good .
If I could go back would I still do that , absolutely not . No one wants to hit the reset button on a tank , I would buy dry rock and cure it yourself .. I personally like rocks like stax rocks shelf rock etc .
Pests sucks , but there’s things that can battle them , but dry rock will be way cheaper and peat free , for only 2-3 months of your time (if done right) what’s there to lose ? I’ve spent more time going to buy things to eat / help the pest battles that it would have been easier to wait for dry rock .
Again my 2cents