An intensive inar~culture system for the growth of sea bream has been developed which uses seaweed Ulva lactuca to remove d~ssolved nutr~ents ( N and P) from the circulating water This allows water to be safely recycled to the fish and results ~n a comparatively 'non-polluting' final effluent As with other marlculture systems, only -25% of the food-N was used for f~s h growth The damnant processes affecting N illthin the system were excietion by flsh of ammonia-N (30%), dissolved organlc mtrogen (DON) (30'X,) and faeces-N (1OU%) rapid transformation of DON to ammonia-N (16%) In the fish tank and uptake of aminonla-N (17 to 3 9 % ) by the seaweed (all percentages e x p~e s s e d relative to food input) N i t r~f~c a t~o n (10%) competed with the seaweed for the available a m m o n~a -N There was only min~mal uptake of mtrate by the seaweed Anoxic condltlons developed in the sedimentation tank Denitiification (5%) and bacterlal ammon~fication, ~ncludlng sulphate reduction, were observed The system showed only m n o r seasonahty, probably because the malor processes (food input and U lactuca uptake) had only a slight dependence on temperature Our quantitative understanding of the processes affecting N within the system was conf~rmed by a parallel study In which a computer simulation model was developed which was able to p r e d~c t well the observed changes In ammonia-N, total oxidised N and U lactuca growth There was a n excess of phosphorus In the food supplied It was removed by the seaweed (9 to 21 %) but to a lesser degree than ammonia-N The residual organlc matter in the s e d~m e n t a t~o n tank was ennched In P, probably because of the presence in the food of bone meal which is resistant to bacterlal decdv The final effluent d~s c h a r g e d contarned 20 to 27 % of the N supplied (and 39 to 47 % of the P) which IS less than half the N d~s c h a r g e d from conventional manculture technology