More lighting

Original question:  Try to get some sps frags from someone successfuly growing them using low light.  They will have already adapted.  But either way, there are some sps that you should be able to keep under less light then you have.

Mark, fwiw, most (maybe just many) people do have difficultly keeping both softies and stonies in prime growing condition in the same tank.

My take on activated carbon:

Carbon works by adsorbing hydrophopic molecules.  There is, theoretically, the possibility that once spent with "slightly hydrophopic" molecules it could release them for something "more hydrophopic".  Also there is the possiblity that once the tank water is very clean, such as just after a big water change, old carbon could relase some material back into the water to reestablish equalibrium.  But I think it's all "theory", I doubt it actually does this.  I think that when using the same bag of carbon for more then a week it's just working as substrate for bacteria.  The average pore size (diameter) is much much smaller then a single bacteria.  Once bacteria are established on the carbon surface they act like a "cover" over the surface keeping organic molecules from permeating into the active sites.  Therefore, when I use carbon I use a small amount and change it every week and when I do a water change.

There is a great thread right now on reefcentral on this very topic:  http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=236477 It appears, from that discussion that it might be possible to "regenerate" GAC by using a microwave oven.