Tropical And Marine Filters & Heaters

[neave88]

Hi everyone,
My dad really wants a tropical fish tank, and has had marine tanks before. Can he use marine filters and heaters in a tropical tank and vice versa?

Would like to get it for him for christmas so replies asap please
Thank you.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Neave88.
I am not aware of any difference between freshwater and saltwater heaters. In north america, the Visi-therm lines of heaters have a fairly good reputation among freshwater people and any of the fully submersibles should do fine in either situation as they are well sealed from the water.
When it comes to filters, the freshwater filters are generally much simpler than saltwater filters and a freshwater sump is almost unheard of. For freshwater, we generally end up using sponge filters, hang on back filters or simple canister filters. Things like skimmers and wave makers just don't get used on freshwater and there is no equivalent to live sand / live rock in the freshwater side of things.

 

[raptorrex]

Hi everyone,
My dad really wants a tropical fish tank, and has had marine tanks before. Can he use marine filters and heaters in a tropical tank and vice versa?

Would like to get it for him for christmas so replies asap please
Thank you.

I would say YES. but you will, probably, need to change the media, from the filter. you will not need things like the skimmer and reactors, often used for marine. but shifting them, could recover enough money to change the media. 

you could go for a sump, as i would suggest "freshwater sumps" are not as rare as OldMan47 suggests, and are an excellent way to filter a tank. but perhaps not for the beginner.