Newbie ? of the day: Cooked Rock??

cooked rock=dead rock.
cured rock has sat in salt water with a nice current to let stuff die and regrow
 
Rock `cooking' refers [normally] to an extended curing process done in darkness.

Those who practice it believe that any potential for lost life on the rock is outweighed by lost nutrients which have built up and clogged the rock's porous interior.

Some would disagree with both of those points - and you'll just have to read and make up your mind for yourself.

It's a much debated subject, there's a number of long threads about it + debating it's merits.

Personally, in certain circumstances I would recommend it - but it's not my standard rock-curing procedure for nice new LR.
 
When I did it, no.

I saw worms, pods, sponges, featherdusters after ... just a general lack of coralline and algae. Likely not as many as before, but for the `old rock' [5+ years in aquaria] that I cooked - I also saw all sorts of pores, holes, and channels in the rock that were covered over/filled IMO when starting.

IMO, stuff that makes it through LR import, initial curing, then 5 years in an aquaria ... will make it through 6-10 weeks of darkness.

This post is opinion, I'm sure some would disagree with it.
Feel free to :)

IMO, it's best to approach these discussions looking at how this method is different than curing [longer period of darkness, but it's not uncommon for people curing new LR to leave the lights off a month ... essentially 4 weeks of `cooking].
When comparing curing methods, IMO this is not so unusual. But, with a different term for it, it has become very controversial. I'd guess that in a year we'll refer to `dark curing' and not have to argue so darn much ;)
 
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