Dying/colouring Sand

[60007]

Hi all, I've had my tank set up fully cycled etc for the best part of 4 months now and I love it!

However, I have decided I would like to have a virtually full tank of Cherry shrimp instead as the main stock, and I'd like to get some sand instead of the blue gravel I'm using.

I would like to use the argos Play sand, its cheap, loads of it and it works! but I'd also like it to be a different colour (Black) as this would complement the colour of the shrimp better.

So, my question is, are there any safe products out there for "dying sand" or will I have to resort to special aquarium sand instead?

 

[OohFeeshy]

You wouldn't be able to dye it- the dye would just come off as soon as it was in the tank. There's a few brands of black sand around, they can be quite pricy, but once you've got it you can reuse it as much as you want. Tahaitan Moon Sand is most common, but there are others. You just need to shop around.

 

[ellena]

I got some unipac sand last night. It's not jet black, but very dark grey. I also got some fine gravel, which is actually tiny bits of glass when you look close which is really sparkley and looks totally fab! It was also unipac. Sand was £3, gravel £3.50, so could be pricey depending how much you need?