LAHORE, Dec 15: Marine fish aquariums are the ‘in’ thing in interior design, whether houses or restaurants, following the traditional fresh water ones. They are not only all set to lend a hand in home decor but also promote marine eco system.

Irfan Habib has an MBA degree. He made a fish aquarium as a hobby during his school days and is all zealous when it comes to a marine aquarium and its modalities. Comparing the two types of aquariums, Habib said different fish importers mostly dealt in fresh water aquariums and only two to three percent were into the marine type. The reason was the huge difference in costs: a four-foot fresh water aquarium cost around Rs45,000 and a marine one of the same size around Rs250,000. This was because fish in marine aquariums is very costly, and Chinese material was not used for being unsustainable. Most material used in the making of a marine aquarium came from Germany and the US.

“The concept of marine aquarium was introduced in Pakistan just a couple of years ago and many are not still familiar with it,” Habib said. He added that he had recently completed “Pakistan’s largest marine fish aquarium” in Lahore at a new café in Garden Town, which is 42 feet long.

Habib said people usually believed marine fish died in a tank after 8-10 days of its import, but if there was cyanide in an imported tank, the fish could survive for days. Indonesia and Sri Lanka had made strict rules wherein imported fish should be healthy and devoid of any poisonous substance, he explained.

For Habib, marine aquarium is both art and science. He said in an ideal set-up, light should appear natural and enhance colours and forms of the creatures, but must also be of the right intensity and quality to sustain marine life. He further said tropical marine fish survived in water maintained at 25 degree Celsius. Its natural reef environment changed little everyday so it adapted poorly to fluctuation in temperature and water quality.

Filtration is also very important to rid the tank of toxic waste, undesirable particles, and other dissolved chemicals.

Highlighting the rock phenomena in marine aquariums, Habib said the basic component of a naturalist marine tank was rock. Calcium-rich rocks, such as Tufa, were ideal because, like crushed coral, they had a buffering effect and helped control water acidity. Rock arrangements should ideally include some overhangs and bridges where the fish could take shelter. The rocks should not be piled against solid walls or arranged on the sides of the tank, as that impeded water circulation.

He went on to say the most beneficial of all tank decorations was live rock, made up of compacted calcium-rich skeletons of long dead corals and other hard shelled marine animals, he added.