Ecocoulumn

Ecocoulumn

Discussion

Our ecocolumn is a small little world that we created to show nature in a small scale. Just like Mother Nature intervenes in ecosystems our team intervened in the terrestrial and aquatic chamber to try and keep our ecocolumn healthy. Knowing that nothing in nature lives without some sort of help we provided help for our ecocolumn so as to contradict our hypothesis.

NH4 (Ammonium) is the ionized form of NH3 (ammonia). The water tests mostly contain NH4, not NH3. Ammonium (NH4) is not as toxic to fish as ammonia (NH3), which is why aquariums that have acidic water do not have as many problems with the initial phase of the nitrogen cycle. Ammonium, the most important nitrogenous fertilizer for water plants, is essential for the breakdown of plant protein. According to our tests and findings the level of NH4 remains fairly constant through out the lifespan of our ecocolumn at a level of .25 p.p.m. On November 16, 2007 the NH4 is .25 p.p.m. On November 19, 2007 the NH4 level is 25 p.p.m. By our third test day November 29, 2007 the NH4 level dropped to 0, which was strange, although by the next week December 5, 2007 it had risen to .25 and remained constant until our final test day of December 20, 2007. We believe our remaining fish lived because of the stable NH4 levels.

Nitrate (NO3) is a water-soluble molecule made up of nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrate is the result of the bacterial breakdown of ammonia. Nitrate is a natural constituent of plants and is found in vegetables at varying levels depending on the amount of fertilizer applied and on other growing conditions. Water naturally contains less than 1 milligram of nitrate-nitrogen per liter and is not a major source of exposure. Higher levels indicate that the water has been contaminated. According to the data we collected and the visual of the graph our nitrogen levels