Are Plastic Dice safe for aquariums?

haha I know this is a very strange question, but my bf plays MTG and as his GF, I took a fancy to the pretty dice colors.

Now that I have an axolotl, I want to come up with a neat substrate. I plan on gluing all the dice together so my axie won't eat them of course.

So my question is, do any of you know if plastic dice are safe for aquariums? I tried to google this one but got nothing. I'm really drawn to the Metallic purples, but I know some of those could possibly be toxic. Do you think some colors would be safe but not others?

Thanks in advance

*ps* I wasn't really sure what section to put this question in

 

I don't have an answer on your question per se, but I just thought I'd chime in because I'm a Magic/RPG/allpurpose geek myself and had some things I thought I'd bring up.

Do you have specific dice in mind? Most gaming dice are plastic, and some are on the larger side (like the 20 sided spin-down dice used in Magic, or super specialty dice with 30+ sides) and some are quite tiny (like the 6-sided ones with pips). Usually, and I just confirmed this of my own geek boyfriend, numbers and pips in dice are colored with paint. The paints vary quite a bit, but some are definitely metallic. I don't know whether the plastic or the paint might leech anything toxic into the water. I don't know the toxicity of regular plastic, much less the kind of plastic that has the metallic marbling. Here are examples for anyone wondering: typical opaque plastic dice, more typical plastic dice including transparent plastic, , plastic dice with metallic marbling/swirls, , .

There are other dice, though, that are made of other materials (metal, wood, perhaps other kinds of plastic) and many of those are not painted at all. I'd say glass would be a natural choice but I really can't remember ever seeing glass gaming dice. It sounds like a cute idea, but I think most would suggest, for the safety or your pets, to not attempt it with the typical painted plastic kind.

I also just want to point out that this sounds like an expensive venture. A pound of non-specialty gaming dice, which is usually the leftover random bits from multiple sets with perhaps multiple methods of manufacturing/painting, runs $20 on , $25ish at , which is my brick and mortar go-to store for geek items. It's not a particularly large bag, either.

Maybe something that can be more easily done and sealed properly is making a little decoration involving dice? A cave or log or little home, perhaps.

 

Welcome to Fishlore!

As stated above, would be a pricey undertaking.

I would be leery of this as there is no telling what paints and or chemicals are used with the dice.

 

I've finally managed to track down the manufacturer of a lot of the dice that I use, Chessex, and have messaged them for more information. I'm not planning on just tossing dice in there to see what happens, so no worries there

Price wise, you guys have some good points. I'm only doing a 10 gallon tank, but I am still brainstorming. it could be possible if I find out about safety, would be to mix the dice in with some purple gravel or other substrate. The whole thing is going to have to be sealed, as axies will eat anything small all the way up to the size of their head! (not the smartest critters sometimes). I'm working on a sketch trying to figure out exactly what I want it to look like, and as I do it, i'm brainstorming ideas of how to make what.

If plastic dice turn out to be bad, I know sculpey clay in some of its forms, as well as FIMO has been proven to be safe in tanks by many people, so I could always make some fake dice

Thanks for the input so far, keep the thoughts coming if you think of anything! I will share my sketch when its done. It will be very rough, so don't giggle at it please

*edit: Midthought, I really like your idea of making something and adding dice to it and sealing it, my bf is tossing around the idea of getting ADF's, so I might totally make that a "natural" setting with some "MTG nerd" elements thrown it.

Anyone got some good decoration DIY threads?

 

Sort of off-topic, but bonus points to you if you find some awesome background art based on Magic card art! As I type that, that's actually sounding rather awesome, actually. I'm thinking the background for lands would make the most sense, but there is a ton out there.

 

the rough sketch. The bkg on the sketch is actually a piece of the background I have for my tank that I made.


Any suggestions for design improvement are welcome, although I can't promise I will do all of them...I have a weird sense of style.

I want to make the hide in the corner something amusing, but can't really think of anything at the moment. That's why I have the "plants" covering it. May possibly make a bunch of "?" and Coin Blocks and breakable blocks out of sculpey and make it look like some of the bits sunk and formed a cave.

I plan on putting the pipes in the middle of the wall, so that it distracts a bit from my sponger filter. When I upgrade to a bigger tank in the future that won't be so important.

I'm planning on making the pipes out of PVC and then making a layer of polymer clay around the outside, giving it shape and color.

 

haha you don't have to tell me there's a lot of art out there...I was doing card alterations for a few years...I did a pretty good job too, lots of people like my stuff, but I got tired of people stiffing me. I'm still owed quite a bit of money.

I actually go to a card shop where the owner personally knows rob alexander, and RK Post is a local artist, so I'd probably pick some of their art for his tank when the time comes.