# Painting Expanding Foam



## sunblaze (May 19, 2015)

Hi there =) I'm in the construction stage of my first paludarium build and i'm curious about something. I'm aware there are already a few posts about this topic but i'm unable to find the specific information i need.

My build consists of a 36x18x36 Exo Terra with a false bottom and expanding foam background and wall separating the drainage water in the false bottom from the water in the aquarium section.

Currently i have my plumbing and false bottom installed as well as a few egg crate shelves and some of the larger pieces of wood that are part of the background and am about ready to begin the mess that is expanding foam.

The land to water ratio of my tank is about 2.3 with the land section at the back of the tank supported by the false bottom and the water at the front. Separating these two is a layer of gutter guard that also rises 6 inches above the false bottom to form a barrier to stop any substrate falling in the water. 

I intend on layering the gutter guard with expanding foam as well as the background. the background will be covered in coco fiber (or some variant) but i wanted to carve the foam that's covering the gutter guard into a rock formation and paint it, as most of this section would be underwater i wanted to know what paints would be safe to use and what should i coat it with afterwards? i was thinking epoxy resin or even a layer of aquarium silicone? but i wanted to ask first as i wasn't sure, also would epoxy resin leave a glossy finish? i hope not as i would want my rocks to look natural not plastic.

Anyway sorry for the long winded post for a relatively simple question just wanted to be as specific as possible as i don't have any photos. Many thanks =)


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## jcotterill (Feb 24, 2015)

From my experience the foam is much easier to paint if the smooth outer layer has been carved back a bit. This also gives the foam a more natural look IMO. But for painting you can just throw some black/brown silicon over it and then add a layer of coco fiber or fine ABG mix over it. I took a small amount of my ABG mix, and mixed it with brown silicone, then applied this to my foam. It gave it a really realistic look.


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## sunblaze (May 19, 2015)

wow that is effective thanks for the tip do you reckon the ABG mix would hold well underwater? or would it deteriorate rapidly? =)


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## jcotterill (Feb 24, 2015)

ABG might deteriorate and will likely leach large amounts of tannins. If it's going to be underwater then maybe you can just do a mix of silicon and aquarium sand/small gravel. I would just make sure that whatever you mix it with matches the color of the silicon you use and that you have a good ratio of sand to silicon, so it again, will have natural texture


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