CO2 tanks not lasting long :-( Help!!!!

[budbrothers]

hey farmers. i have a 20x10x10 room with a CO2 tank with regulator. no controller yet (budget)

how long would a 20lb tank last in flowering? i set the regulator how the directions said. i went threw a 50lb tank in less than a week and i have it on a timer so it doesnt shoot at night. i figured a 50lb would last at least the flower cycle. i bought the tank with what i thought was almost full. i had a back up 20lb and i hooked that up and reset the reg. that lasted about the same time.

im 18 days into flowering and both tanks are dry?

whats goin on?

 

[budbrothers]

oh shit sorry i forgot to mention i did the calculation and it said like 4.3 or something along those lines for the first 2hr of lights on and then ever other 15min then go off the last hr of light. if that makes sense.

 

[budbrothers]

im thinking with a room this size maybe i just need a co2 gen. i just cant afford it right now. i dont think i was over shooting. but i guess it possible. i checked for leaks when hooked up regulator too. im stumped. i just dont want to be lugging the tanks to the refill every week. its gonna blow.

 

[budbrothers]

fuck my life. a 50 lb lasted like 2weeks and a 20 like 5days. shit. i also have 10.5ft ceilings. i wasn't expecting that.

 

[Bobby Smith]

I used to go through a 20# tank a week for flowering in a 4x4 tent.

Trying to run tanks in a room that size is silly unless you live over top of a welding supply store, IMO.

I sold my tanks and bought a generator, and my room is about 14x10.

Goddam did I hate lugging those shits in the dark of the night to the welding supply store........now I just go to 7-11 and exchange propane tanks like a good, upstanding citizen who's bbq-ing :)

 

[Buddy Hemphill]

I used to go through a 20# tank a week for flowering in a 4x4 tent.

Trying to run tanks in a room that size is silly unless you live over top of a welding supply store, IMO.

I sold my tanks and bought a generator, and my room is about 14x10.

Goddam did I hate lugging those shits in the dark of the night to the welding supply store........now I just go to 7-11 and exchange propane tanks like a good, upstanding citizen who's bbq-ing :)

lol....The lady at home depot was like , damn! You grill alot?..I told her that I cooked ALL my meals on the grill. My spot is 20x20x10 and I kill a bottle about every 4 days. 1600ppm.

They are open from 6am-10pm. Its convenient. And no nosy people asking me why I go thru so much CO2.
I keep a spare so I don't run out.

 

[budbrothers]

I used to go through a 20# tank a week for flowering in a 4x4 tent.

Trying to run tanks in a room that size is silly unless you live over top of a welding supply store, IMO.

I sold my tanks and bought a generator, and my room is about 14x10.

Goddam did I hate lugging those shits in the dark of the night to the welding supply store........now I just go to 7-11 and exchange propane tanks like a good, upstanding citizen who's bbq-ing :)

ya i found that out the hard way. im gonna sell both my tanks and regulators and go buy a generator. i will hook it up to my natural gas. but i have to get a controller for that dont i?

 

[budbrothers]

lol....The lady at home depot was like , damn! You grill alot?..I told her that I cooked ALL my meals on the grill. My spot is 20x20x10 and I kill a bottle about every 4 days. 1600ppm.

They are open from 6am-10pm. Its convenient. And no nosy people asking me why I go thru so much CO2.
I keep a spare so I don't run out.

you go threw a bottle of propane every 4 days? thats nuts. ill just rack up my utilities with the Natural Gas and a gen.

do you have a controller?

 

[Bobby Smith]

ya i found that out the hard way. im gonna sell both my tanks and regulators and go buy a generator. i will hook it up to my natural gas. but i have to get a controller for that dont i?

Works better with a controller (as do bottles), but you can do the math and figure out how long it needs to run for and put it on a timer, if so desired.

BTW, how much do you know about natural gas? I had the idea to run the line from the kitchen to my garage, but gave up because it seemed a little too difficult - the back of the stove shares a wall with my garage, so it'd only have to come through about 5" of insulation and drywall.

 

[Bobby Smith]

you go threw a bottle of propane every 4 days? thats nuts. ill just rack up my utilities with the Natural Gas and a gen.

do you have a controller?

That is fucking nuts; have not run my generator in my new room yet (14x10), but if it takes a bottle a week or even every other week, running natural gas is the move, methinks.

 

[budbrothers]

Works better with a controller (as do bottles), but you can do the math and figure out how long it needs to run for and put it on a timer, if so desired.

BTW, how much do you know about natural gas? I had the idea to run the line from the kitchen to my garage, but gave up because it seemed a little too difficult - the back of the stove shares a wall with my garage, so it'd only have to come through about 5" of insulation and drywall.

What do you need to kno? Most likely you have an reducer to an elbow that pops threw the wall with about a 4" pipe. Then you should have a valve that connects to the stove. All you need to do is replace the elbow with a T and put Teflon tape on all your threads. Then valves at both outlets. Make sure you check your lines for leaks with soapy water and don't over tighten the pipes.

Pm me if you need anything else

 

[Bobby Smith]

What do you need to kno? Most likely you have an reducer to an elbow that pops threw the wall with about a 4" pipe. Then you should have a valve that connects to the stove. All you need to do is replace the elbow with a T and put Teflon tape on all your threads. Then valves at both outlets. Make sure you check your lines for leaks with soapy water and don't over tighten the pipes.

Pm me if you need anything else

Thanks; went to HD and explained my situation to the dude, he told me to go home and take measurements and come back, did that, then he hooked me up with everything I needed.

Two more trips to HD and a couple of hours of elbow grease and I'm set.

Pictures are in my journal in my sig, just posted them.

Thanks again for the idea.

 

[motta-tokka]

You don't have a co2 monitor? If your running it on a timer its obvious your not controlling it properly. I got my controller for 200 bucks or so. You have about 200 square feet from what you posted and I have about 54. I have a minigen and the hydro innovations co2 monitor (1200 on to 1500ppm then off). A typical what is it 15 gallon propane bottle lasts me... a good while. It varies greatly since I run veg + bloom cycles with it though so a actual how many days its good for in my setup I cannot calculate yet. Propane, natural gas is usually cheaper, lasts longer and you can even plumb it into the house gas with the correct unit. Look into that as well as sometimes pressure is too low in the house for the co2 burner to work right.

 

[budbrothers]

Thanks; went to HD and explained my situation to the dude, he told me to go home and take measurements and come back, did that, then he hooked me up with everything I needed.

Two more trips to HD and a couple of hours of elbow grease and I'm set.

Pictures are in my journal in my sig, just posted them.

Thanks again for the idea.

You don't have a co2 monitor? If your running it on a timer its obvious your not controlling it properly. I got my controller for 200 bucks or so. You have about 200 square feet from what you posted and I have about 54. I have a minigen and the hydro innovations co2 monitor (1200 on to 1500ppm then off). A typical what is it 15 gallon propane bottle lasts me... a good while. It varies greatly since I run veg + bloom cycles with it though so a actual how many days its good for in my setup I cannot calculate yet. Propane, natural gas is usually cheaper, lasts longer and you can even plumb it into the house gas with the correct unit. Look into that as well as sometimes pressure is too low in the house for the co2 burner to work right.

Bobby I hope my info was helpful. im glad you got that all figured out. ill check your thread in a few. thanks keeping us posted.

motta i dont have a co2 gen yet. i plan on getting a generator that runs natural gas and plumbing it to the house next cycle. i will most likely run veg and bloom with it considering it will be cheaper with the utilities.
How do you like the hydroInnovations co2 controller?

I went down to AirGas and swapped both bottles cost me 69.00 for both cause the 50lb was out of date. still cheaper than i was expecting. I guess i will run them for the next 3 weeks till they run out again. hopefully by then i can find someone to buy the tanks and regulators and purchase a Generator with the money made.

 

[motta-tokka]

Yeah basically you have no clue on how much is being needed without the controller. Basically it monitors and waits till it drops below what you want and bam, switches on. Obviously you know this but what I am saying is for instance.. I open my tent.. about 30 seconds to a minute later the monitor detects the loss of co2, and turns the generator back on.. So you have to understand, just with the monitor alone, it allows it to stay perfect by not wasting or overshooting it like nuts. The co2 monitor from hydro innovations works great! The limit to it is you cannot adjust if you want to. Its always 1500.. (waits till 1200ppm or 1300 to turn on, forgot which) That being said, the ladies in my grow now are at 1500co2, 550ppm nutes 6.2ph and basically 3 week old clones that are super small.. Growth the last for days is awesome!.. You cant tell much by the pics, but they are noding like crazy and roots are popping like nuts..

So yeah a co2 monitor would help resolve your problem by keeping levels where you need it and not flooding the room with co2 for 15 minutes on 15 off (my assumption on your timer for it).

The minigen takes about 5 minutes from normal co2 to 1500 in a 54 square foot range. The heat it gives off is nothing and from my research it seems nobody is really utilizing the water cooling option in it.

Now if I got it wrong and you have a controller and still wasting all that co2.. I would assume you have a leak somewhere ;)

 

[Bobby Smith]

Motta, I'm gonna get the bigger Hydrogen, so it's good to hear that yours works well.

Budbrothers, if you're gonna spend $350 on the CO2 monitor by itself, I'd HIGHLY recommend spending another $150 and getting the Sentinel CHHC-1 - it controls your heat, AC, dehumidifier, and CO2 and lets you program them very easily to work in unison.

Just my $.02, and no, I don't work for Sentinel (but it's the best purchase I've ever made).

 

[cemchris]

Just a heads up. Sounds like yalls rooms have leaks. At 1400ppm in my 12 x 15 x 10 a tank of propane will last me about a month. Running a gen 2 with 2 burners.

If you are not running a controller you might as well ditch the tanks. You will waste way more money filling and exchanging tanks then shelling out 300-700 bucks for a good controller. Big rooms run a gen. Takes the hassle out of the hassle.

 

[Smokey503ski]

First thing I recomend is you tell us more about your grow room.

Are you using A/C? If not then ditch the Co2

Are you venting your air to outside from the grow room while running the Co2? If so get a A/C that will match your lights. 4000 btu's per 1k light.

It seems that you need to do more reasearch before you play with gas.

Most people with Co2 run a sealed room. No exhaust fan. Have a nice big A/C, Controller.

It sound like you are running your Co2 and venting at the same time without any a/c.

My room is this. Lights are air cooled (not any grow room air passes thru these) Co2, Co2 controller( Sentinal CHHC-4) 2 20# tanks on a dual tank regulator. Plenty of fans blowing in the room. A Carbon scrubber running 24/7 and a dehumidifier going also. This is the basics of any room using Co2.

My tanks last me about 3-4 weeks keeping 1400-1500 PPM's constant while lights are on. 10x15 room

 

[budbrothers]

ok guys very good info from all of you. i am running a sealed room its just not air tight yet. i have 2 tanks and regulators (one as a back up)

im running vented lights cold air from outside throught the lights back to outside. i have a 14000 btu portable ac unit with intake vent and output vent. from what i have seen and read it keeps a sealed room.

it looks like i need about 1000 for the gen and controller set up. dont have it right now.

do you think i should just run without CO2?
I just filled both tanks and it cost 50ish which will last about 3 weeks

i don't have a controller yet. i was waiting to get the generator. i have been looking at the sentinel

 

[budbrothers]

ok well maybe its just me but i didnt hook up the co2 cause i thought i would see if i could sell the tanks and regs to see if i could go and buy a gen with the money.

maybe its my imagination but they didnt have co2 today and they look like they doubled in size. they are at day 18 of flowering. is it just that time or can maybe excess co2 hurt?