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Let's Rock! Making rocks the EZ way

DIY ROCK BACKGROUND AND ROCKS

I finally had time to get into doing some tank decoration again so I am making a rock background and pile of rocks to be used (hopefully) as a den by my Chilean Rose Tarantula who comes from the Atacama Desert. So her tank won't be very exciting so this will have to serve as some sort of visual interest.

I have not tried this technique before so we'll see what happens

You will need:

Pink Panther insulation foam get the 2" thick sheets
Xacto extendable utility knife
Pre-mixed Floor Patch cement stuff 1 qt
Cheap Chip Brush
dixie cup with cool tap water
plastic gloves
Colored sand from the craft store ask for "Scenic Sand" (TM)
Gorilla Glue or elmers

Some of the supplies:
rock18.jpg


Firstly cut a sheet that fits the tank leave a bit of elbow room on the sides and top
rock1.jpg


Start carving non-symetrical block out of the foam and plucking out shapes, I made all this texture, this is not necessary oh well live and learn!

rock2.jpg



Keep a broom and shop vac handy you'll be needing it!

rock3.jpg


So the best place to cover the background with grout is obviously the kitchen counter...
This is the first pass, and is why you need the plastic gloves. Just dip some fingers into the grout and smear it over all the bumps and work it into the crevices don't bother smoothing it just get it on there. Add some blobs here and there to add visual interest and depth.
rock4.jpg


That step didn't look so hot but after one pass with the paintbrush and cool water looky here:

rock5.jpg



Even better with a second pass with more water and the paintbrush...
rock6.jpg


Now while the grout is wet sprinkle the darkest colored sand in the deepest crevices and the lighter colors overtop

rock7.jpg


Be liberal with the sand, you want as much as possible to embed itself into the wet surface of the grout. Now set it aside and DO NOT TOUCH IT for 8 hours.

rock8.jpg



Since this is a desert tank I wanted to buy a pile of stones "hide" for my tarantula to burrow under and make a den in. And they had a neat one at Petco but when I saw it was nearly $30 I said screw that I'll make one so here's my DIY foam rock pile:

Cut the chunks asymmetrically I only cut a score line on the foam and snap it so it breaks irregularly. Use the White Elmers Glue or Gorilla Glue to hold the foam pieces together. Let dry overnight if using gorilla glue.

rock9.jpg


Now frost the whole foam hide with the grout (wear your gloves!)
rock10.jpg


The first pass with the water
rock11.jpg


Second pass with the water
rock12.jpg

Sand has been added

rock13.jpg


I decided I wanted just a a bit of red coloration to the rock so added some rust brown/red sand, did the same to the background
rock14.jpg


I blew off most of the red sand, so there's just a hint of pigment. Not a wise idea to have blown it off all over the counter... :D
rock15.jpg


Here's the finished back not too detailed but it will be underground anyway...
rock16.jpg


The finished top:
rock17.jpg


Well I hope this was fun for you to see and maybe gives you some ideas. I am waiting for the pieces to harden so I can shake off the excess and and see what they will look like put inside the tank. I'll put up an update when that happens.



****USING GROUT WITH WATER FEATURES
If you want to use this grout stuff in vivariums with water features/frogs/fish/etc you have to soak the hardened pieces in vinegar and water until the PH becomes neutral supposedly 1-2 weeks changing the solution every other day. It would probably be worth it to buy a Ph tester to test a pure water soak's PH level overnight before putting it in with your darts or tetras.

In my case there will almost never be water in this spiders tank outside the water dish so there is no worries about soil PH being altered from these (no plants) so I can use it as soon as the substrate dries out. This spider hates wet soil - but loves playing in her water dish...???
 
Interesting. Are you sure the paint and rock base is non-toxic for her? You might want to make sure first, you never know. I obviously also don't know the level of experience you have with rosies but I'd advise against rocks in the first place, as they like climbing glass and could split their abdomen on that.

Tell me how it works, though!
 
Yup non toxic, same grout stuff used by many other Tarantula keepers, dart froggers, fish keepers, etc who like making backgrounds and tank decor. I'm not blazing the trail with this material here, just passing along a DIY I thought was cool. I've been reading about it for a long time and finally felt motivated enough to go for it.

No paint, only grout, tap water and sand. The brush is to smooth the grout with tap water. Some people do use acrylics to paint the grey grout but I wanted the texture of the sand so i used sand the color of the paint I would have used. I like the sand better. Next time i may mix in some peat dust (orange asphalt dust would be even better for this kinda rock) as well to make it more dusty gritty as pure sand made it more like granite (sparkly) than sandstone (dull).

There is another method using this stuff where you bend 75%+ Coir into the stuff to sculpt trees and vines and such that are bulky and slightly water permeable/retainable to encourage dense moss growth. I've seen some awesome sculpted buttress roots done with it in dart frog tanks.
 
Well here's the new enclosure with the background and hide entrance. The den is deep and firm so she can hide way back in there when she feels like it. And it's big enough that she can molt in it too if that's what she wants to do.

rosy10.jpg


From the top
rosy10top.jpg


It'll be a while before the Tarantula and her water dish go in. I know she hates moist soil so I'll let it dry a while first plus I'm gonna get a glass lid for the tank and maybe make the substrate a little deeper. This "desert" species wants dry soil but 60% rh... interesting challenge my house is 20% rh!

I may build another rock feature shaped kinda like a ramp or ledge for the right side and put her water dish ontop of it so she has even more places to wander.
 
That's a pretty sweet setup there, great job on everything!
 
very nice , I can appreciate such effort and style :)
 
Thanks! I will have to get better pics when I've added some more decor on the right hand side. The rock isn't white but the washed out pics are making it look that way.

Got a new 10 gallon today for an upcoming acquisition. An eventual giant one that lives on the forest floor, meaning I can use live plants, wood and moss in that setup! :D
 
Your tank looks great. Another material that we use at my work for making backgrounds is Great Stuff spray foam. We will us it for making an interesting background and carve it out just as we want or by placing rocks that we like in the tanks then spraying in foam between the rocks making it a bit safer when using rocks in displays. Then you just have to mix up some glue and paint it over the foam with some peat moss or other soil and it look some what natural.

I have done it for dart frog and tarantula tanks. The nice thing with the foam is you can get some PVC pipe and make caves for your animals or planters that blend in to the background.
 
Hi James,
I used Great Stuff in my 37 Gallon cube tank that I modified to have a sliding glass front, it is indeed nice stuff! I've also made big branches/vines with it by spraying it out into long shapes let dry and spray the other side to make it "3D" then carve and cover in silicone/moss/coir/etc. I wanted to try this pink panther closed-cell foam technique cos I wanted rectangular blocky shapes compared to the softer more bubbly shapes of the spray foam. Probably soon I will use a combo of both techs to do some exciting backgrounds as I have 3 tanks to decorate now, just waiting on my ventilation louvers to arrive...

Update:
I made a new stone today for the right hand side of the tank (still drying) and picked up a neat grassy sort of plastic plant from the craft shop to liven things up a bit as well as cut/assembled the plexiglass lid so I'll have a photo update to show - I hope my vents come soon so I can finish setting up and move her in here.
 
  • #10
Wow Swords talking about having a talent! It look very professional thanks for the insight!
 
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