Hi,

After deciding to get back into fishkeeping I recently bought a 240L tank off eBay, the previous owners also threw in an internal and external filter.

I'm in the process of setting it up as a fish-only saltwater tank (no live rock yet, although I might add to the sump in the future if I get any difficulties). I'm 1 week into cycling it and have been ghost feeding but not yet seeing any ammonia levels with API test kit.

I wonder if I need to cycle it at all since I didn't change the filter media and it would have only been out of water for a matter of hours? Can the nitrifying bacteria of freshwater setups survive in saltwater, or will it be a halophilic species that needs to propagate?

Thanks

As far as I know, the beneficial bacteria for saltwater are a different species from those for freshwater. It may be that your feeding isn't producing enough ammonia to register on the test yet. I'd suggest dosing with liquid ammonia instead to get a true idea of the stage of the cycle.