Quick question 'bout cheato

[Cody Ray]

Will cheato use ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate if all of the above are present?

 

[Chad Vossen]

not 100% sure but i think ammonia and nitrite are raw forms of nitrate. it takes bacteria to break down ammonia into nitrite then into nitrate.
to get rid of ammonia and nitrite, just need an established system.

 

[Cody Ray]

I was under the impression that algae prefered ammonia over nitrate.

 

[Billybeau1]

Arm is correct. Macroalgae consumes nitrate and phosphate. Ammonis needs to get broken down by your biological filtration to nitrite which in turn changes to nitrate.