painting/coloring diy backgrounds and waterfalls???

[Torin]

I'm looking to build a waterfall and a creek for my crocodile skink vivarium. I've got great stuff gaps and cracks, clear type 1 GE silicone, and styrofoam insulation. Now I need to know how to color the waterfall and creek. Do I mix gravel or sand into the silicone and use that as coloring? Do I coat it with cement, and if so how do I get the cement to be the right color? Is there a kind of paint that everybody uses?

I also need to know how to access the waterfall pump for cleaning and maintenance as well as keep it from floating since I'll be making that part from the styrofoam insulation. Any advice on these matters at all would be helpful.

[Torin]

This is my design for the waterfall using styrofoam insulation and a pump I took off of an exo-terra waterfall. How would I keep it from floating up while still being able to take it out to mess with the pump and for cleaning? Also how do I get it to look a nice color?




Basically I'm just going to make a wide shallow creek in the middle of the enclosure using GS for the edges and sand for the bottom. Then I want to just place the waterfall separately and unconnected at the back end of the creek. Would sand or duckweed clog the pump? Should I put some kind of sponge barrier around the pump? Anything profoundly wrong with this whole idea?