# Polycrylic for sealing rock backgrounds?



## KevinS (Sep 23, 2008)

I'm planning a setup for some cave salamanders and I want to have a nice rock backdrop with lots of crevices for them. It sounds like the biggest headache with these rock backgrounds is the curing time though. I initially thought I wouldn't have to worry about this as much since this species is so often found in limestone caves, making high pH less worrisome. I don't want to take any chances though and I may have found a better solution anyway. One of the members on here linked to this page a while back: Reptilio.com • View topic - DIY Sandstone / Desert Rocks for you terrerarium

If you look at the 5th picture down, the stone has a clear glaze over it from being sealed with Minnwax water-based polycrylic. As you can see, this is sanded down in the next picture since it was a desert setup, but a shiny finish like that would actually be ideal for this tank since I've seen many dripstone formations in caves that have a very smooth surface that looks similar. I searched on here and there aren't many mentions of polycrylic, but the few posts about it did seem to establish that it's safe for amphibians. So I just thought I'd see if anyone here has used this before and could share any tips for getting the best results? Specifically, I'm wondering if I should plan to coat the surfaces multiple times or if one should be enough? Thanks.


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## bobberly1 (Jul 16, 2008)

I did about a week of polycrylic research myself back when I was looking into making a wood cage. Here's a thread I started.

Just Minwax?

Lots of other good information on that site as well.


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## KevinS (Sep 23, 2008)

Thanks for the quick response.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

shellac? it is natural and food safe . i dont know how it would hold up to high humidity but i have used it to coat cooking utensils that i have made of wood.


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## hoyta (Jan 18, 2006)

Bad thing about the Polycrylic is that it is soft. Go with Helmsman, also by MinWax, since its UV resistant and OK for outdoors.


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