Quote Originally Posted by bstreep View Post
You were supposed to learn that in High School science... LOL.
yea i realize that now that you metion it... LOL
but i would argue that i grew up in a modern system that did not require you to learn anything. just memorize it for a week and take a test.

kind of off subject but IMO todays public school systems are no longer a learning enviroment, they are a social enviroment and if you dont fit in socially you will not learn well due to the psychological stresses.

i can say that i did not learn a thing in public school. i only started learning once i made the decision on my own. like this post of 2 nights of reading about the nitrogen cycle.
Quote Originally Posted by saabtech View Post
correct me if im wrong and this can get complicated but the chemical makeup of decomposing organics and waste from other organisms in our saltwater aquariums produce ammonium (NH4) which is broken down by ammonia oxidizing bacteria and nitrifying organisms which converts ammonia to nitrites (NO2) Then other bacterial species are responsible for the oxidation of the nitrites into nitrates (NO3) then with the introduction of a macroalga or some macroalgae into the cycle the nitrates are assimilated (absorbed) into the algae to the form of glutamate (C5 H9 NO4) and is converted into complex amino acids, nucleic acids, chlorophyll and proteins. i have never studied this in a lab nor will i but from the biochemistry books and online resources I have studied the ammonia (NH3) ammonium (NH4) nitrites (NO4) and nitrates (NO3) do not stay in there chemical compound once assimilated into the algae, they are converted into other complex chemical compounds due to reactions with enzymes and protiens that provide a biocatalysis where the nitrogen source (ie.ammonia, ammonium, nitrites, nitrates) that has been assimilated into the algae is converted into usefull organic compounds like chlorophyll (C55 H70 O6 N4 Mg) and Amines (H2NCH (x) COOH).
the cycle will restart and you will get a spike of all the toxic nitrogeneous compounds like nitrates if the algae is allowed to die and decompose.
when the organism breaks down the the nitrogenious compounds can and will easily be converted back into the toxic compounds that we are constantly trying to remove. so only by harvesting the macroalgae would you be removing the nitrogenious compounds