Polystyrene

[joeri]

I've seen it being used to make backgrounds in aquaria and terraria. I've seen great constructions with it, but still, I wonder

1st: is it 100% save (I mean non toxic, especially the painting part)
2nd: how well does it handle water? Does water damage a construction in time?
3th: I've seen it being used in a tropical frog setup and it looked great, but I was wondering if newts wouldn't damage it.

I wonder about these damaging especially as I don't want a tank stuffed with tiny white balls

Does anyone have experience with this material?
Other things I should keep in mind when dealing with this material? Maybe like how it affects temperatures as it is often used for isolation.

thank you in advance

 

[alan]

1) I've used expanded polystyrene on and off for years, above and below water and never seen any evidence of toxicity.

2) Lasts for years/decades without decay (scary).

3) You can "consolidate" and texture the surface using a hand-held gas blow torch (be very careful when doing this because you are deliberately melting the material).

 

[clarence]

some polystyrenes are made of very large pellets, and some are solid near-through.

but the question I've always had is, what paints to use, so as to be both waterproof and critter safe?

 

[joeri]

Can anybody answer the question above. I've only found vague info on the net.
And it was not always clear if the background was used for an aquarium or a dry terrarium.

Alan, what kind of paint did you use? Did you varnish it? Or did you put some other protective layer on it?

 

[alan]

No paint. The blowtorch (carefully used!) consolidates and colours the surface, although some white still shows through. If you don't like this, use a PVA-fibre coating, as shown here:
http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/Amphibiary/islands.html

 

[joeri]

Thank you Alan

 

[penthea]

Ive used polystyrene in my set up for ages, I use the back panels that come with exo terra terrariums ! They are easy to cut ! I gave mine a very thin smearing of fish tank sealant just to make sure and dropped small stones on, they look great and cause no harm ! (mines been in water for over a year)