what can you use to color water in a fish tank? ...to dye it a cool color?

Answer 1

Not a good idea as others have said. Try using colored plastic film between the light and the hood if you want colors.

MM

Answer 2

You can add peat granules to the filter, or decorate with driftwood. This will give the water a brownish color like weak tea, and will not kill the fish.

I don't know if you think this is a "cool" color, but it is the color of water that most tropical fish would actually swim in in the wild. With bright lights, you should still be able to see your fish pretty well.

Other tricks to color the water include... umm... chemicals that would probably kill your fish. Just as a wild guess, I'm going to assume that a tank full of dead fish is not cool either.

If you want some other color, but don't feel like adding a background (I highly recommend a background. How else can you completely change the look of your tank for less than five bucks?) or using colored lights...

You can introduce a floating plant, such as duckweed, fairy moss, or butterfly fern to the tank. With a grow light, these plants will quickly reproduce to cover the top of the water, and filtering the light so everything looks green.

I would recommend the butterfly fern over the duckweed. You need to remove quite a bit every now and then, and the larger butterfly fern is easier to pick off. Also, if you take off too much duckweed at any one time, it causes an ammonia spike. This isn't so common with butterfly fern in my experience.

Answer 3

Don't use Malachite green, please. It has been classified as a toxic chemical to both you and your fish, and has been banned where I live (Canada) since 1992. Unless you want cancer and a bunch of other nasty stuff, stay away from that stuff.
I like the peat idea, but if you're as much of a new fishkeeper as I must assume you are from your question, I'd advise against it as well, simply because if used improperly it causes major chemical imbalances.
You could use coloured bulbs, but I don't honestly think your fish would like you very much for it. Imagine having to live your entire life in a box that was on constant blue-light special?
My recommendation? Buy a pair of coloured sunglasses and wear them while looking at your fish tank.

Answer 4

Don't color the water in your fish tank. You wont be able to see the fish clearly. You cant tell when algae starts growing. It will effect the water temperature and oxygen content. If you have living aquatic plants in it you may harm them.

Ask yourself. Have you ever seen colored water in any fish aquarium?

Answer 5

I agree with just about everything all the previous answerers wrote
Dyes cause fish to die.
Add colored gravel, try a colored spotlight focused on the front of the tank.(from across the room).
Use an incandescent lamp with colored bulbs.

Answer 6

That's not really advisable.
Instead of coloring the water, get a nice background and tape it on the outside in the back. There are cool ones at petstores, or make your own.

Answer 7

I wouldn't recommend dying the water, just get a colored bulb for the light.

Answer 8

nothing i tried that . the fish die. colored lights are the way to go and put one of the fancy backgrounds on it as well buy some nice co loured gravel.

Answer 9

there is this medicine called malchatite green, it doesn't harm the fish, just stains everything that is white.

Answer 10

food color---
you can have cool colored water,by removing the charcoal from your filter.. but after awhile you will have--ONE STINKIN' TANK AND THE FISH WON'T SHOW IN YOUR STINKIN' TANK. they will die to get away from you.