[christyf5]

Actually George, the term "cooking" used in reefing isn't quite as literal. Rock is placed in a container with water, a powerhead and a heater and left to do its thing for several months. Nutrients come out of the rock and are exported via water changes. Beneficial bacteria remain in the rock, keeping the cycle going as various other things are being broken down.

As for physical cooking of the rock, thats sort of a last ditch attempt to kill of stuff. Kind of defeats the purpose of live rock though, IMO.

Cooking rock to get rid of flatworms and aiptasia would probably take quite awhile I would think. Most of the flatworms subsist on algae I believe and until their nutrient source has dried up, they'd still be hanging out. not sure about the aiptasia, I think they survive on light. It still takes alot longer to get rid of those critters than you'd think. It took me a good 2-3 months to get rid of various algae on the rocks I cooked (it was pretty bad though) I put some hermit crabs in to help out.

Theres always flatworm exit for the flatworms and you could really wait out those aiptasia but theres always the threat that one survived.