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Soy based Stains and Paints for Backgrounds

609 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  moncrieff 
#1 ·
Newbie here. I am constructing a foam background for my salamander tank. I have been doing some tests on odd pieces of foam with Polyblend Non-Sanded Grout (Portland Cement) and then sponging on stains and paints to make the fake rocks look more realistic. I am testing an alternative concrete stain called Soycrete and an acrylic paint alternative called Soy Paint. Does anyone on here have any experience with these kinds of materials? I was planning on doing vinegar soakings to neutralize the lye in the cement. Although the paint and stain is marketed as safe (I even emailed Ecoprocote and they said it should not leech any chemicals), I wanted to hear your opinions.
 
#2 ·
Personally, I would refrain from using any soy-based products around frogs or amphibians. Soy is a well-known endocrine disruptor, as it has a large amount of phytoestrogens, which effectively mimic the hormone estrogen. I even believe that its recommended that you not feed any soy to infants because of their effect on the endocrine system.
Here's a google search on it:
https://www.google.com/search?q=soy...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
 
#3 ·
Hmm, good point! That is definitely a legitimate concern. I am not a chemist, but I am curious if these type of products actually do contain isoflavones or phytoestrogens? Does anyone know more about this from a bio-chemistry standpoint?

This is a quote from the product information, which touts that Soycrete stains use methyl esters: "Soy methyl esters are produced from an esterification of soybean oil derived from the soybean plant. The soy ester that we use is actually further derived from a waste stream by-product of vitamin E production. This long proven bio-based natural ingredient replaces conventional petroleum based solvents." blah blah blah....

I sent off another email to the company, Ecoprocote, to see if they will answer this, although not sure how helpful their customer service will be on this subject =/.
 
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