Clay Backgrounds?

[Robby Cash]

What would be a good clay to make a back ground out of? Im getting a hex 45 gal tank and would like to do the 3 corners that will be against the walls in my room with a clay back ground. Any suggestions?

[Sunshine]

Some people use kitty litter but it depends on what kind of frog you are making it for. I think the kitty litter method is used only for dart frogs and frogs that need high humidity. Are you wanting to use it for your new setup? You can also use 'Great Stuff' expanding foam and cover it with silicone and coco fiber/sphagnum moss/coco husk etc.

[Robby Cash]

Yea i was thinking of that but i was thinking that great stuff would be a pain to paint and stuff lol. figured i would just try out the clay and they mash eco earth into into to give the wall better texture. that and would great stuff hold a couple small flower pots?

[Sunshine]

Yes, Great stuff will hold flowers, driftwood, pretty much whatever you want. You can Great Stuff around flower pots on the wall and it will look like the plants are growing right out of the wall. Not a great pic, but hopefully you get the idea. You can also carve the foam once it is dried to desired shapes. You will need to either paint it and seal it (I am using Krylon polyurethane clear coat to seal mine) after or put a thick layer of silicone on it and press coco fiber on it.

[Robby Cash]

AHH!!! awesome pic right there cus that the same kinda tank im getting lol. and i could only imagine me trying to use a can of krylon in the tank lol. So i will most likely use the silicone on it. lol.

[Sunshine]

True, sorry I forgot you are doing the build in the tank so you wont be able to spray paint it. My brain isn't working anymore lol. The silicone will be a pain in the @ss but it will be worth it in the end!

[UncleChester]

Instead of covering the great stuff with silicone + coco, you can cover it with Titebond III mixed with peat/coco. This is much less stinky, easier to work with, and more durable. The downside is it takes longer to cure, but when it does it's solid.

Building your background outside the viv is a possibility as well. For example styrofoam carved into rock shapes and covered with cement is cheap and virtually indestructible once cured.

[deranged chipmunk]

+1+1+1+1 on the titebond iii. I love the stuff. 90% of my 125 paludarium and 100% of my 20L paludarium are great stuff covered in coco/titebond mix. And the best part about titebond is that if you end up with any bare areas, you can go over them again. With silicone, one it is cured, you can't add anymore silicone on top of it since silicone adheres to almost everything except previously cured silicone. It also has the advantage of being able to use damp cocofiber as well. When using silicone, i have found it to be essential that the cocofiber b completely dry before pressing it into the silicone.

[Robby Cash]

ok awesome, dont know why but every since ive seen the tanks on here ive been wanting to build one my self. I think it'll be a fun winter project