Rock Wall

So, before I take the dive, I want to make sure it’s going to work. I once tried to follow this tutorial where they got styrofoam, used expanding foam to hold it together and give it a rock look, used grout to “paint it” and give it a rough rock look and then sealed it with polyurethane. My attempt did not work, so I ended up just buying actual pieces from the store.

I switched his enclosure from a 40 gallon tank to a melamine enclosure (I’m assuming melamine). I’d like to give him a background, but the enclosure is solid black. Purchasing a rock wall is difficult (odd dimensions) and expensive.

I would like to take the similar idea from the tutorial and make a rock wall myself. I was thinking of using cardboard as a base (as to not ruin my enclosure), spray it with the expanding foam (as I desire), spray paint it with a paint that dries rough (to look like rock) and seal it with polyurethane. Then just slide it snugly into the enclosure.

Would this work and be safe? Thanks for any responses!

Make sure to seal it really well and there should be no issues.

first version of my beardies tank i went outside and grabbed large rocks, air hammered them apart and used a light concrete mix to seal them together. worked well as a corner backing for the water fall to flow down into her pool. ive sense ditched it since she dosent spent much time in there anymore and it didnt make sense to keep cleaning it out when she dosent use it anymore. her inside tank that had teh rocks in it is 140 gallons