Diagram of the Nitrogen Cycle

[lakee911]

I found this handy dandy pic of the Nitrogen cycle in an article about waste water treatment plants. It's applicable to aquariums, no?

Thx
Jason

 

[bertoni]

I would suggest posting this question in the chemistry forum. I don't think the species Nitrosomonas is correct for marine environments, and fungi are uncommon as well. There are a number of other processes happening in our aquariums in addition to the ones shown, although that might not be the intent of the diagram.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Much of it is correct, except perhaps details about what organisms are involved. Some parts are missing as the ocean is much more complicated. Some animals in the ocean take up nitrate. Cyanobacteria can fix N2. It doesn't show any direct excretion of ammonia by fish or other organisms. It doesn't show any other forms of inorganic nitrogen (e.g., no mention of NO, NO2, hydrazine, etc). I expect there are other issues and lower levels details as well.

These articles may be useful:


Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

Hydrogen Sulfide and the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/index.php

Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.htm

The Complete Nitrogen Cycle
http://web.archive.org/web/20030510...iers+--+Biochemistry+of+Aquaria&RecordNo=3090