Stepping Up To The Co2 Game....with A Few Q's

[DemonTrich]

so ive been doing pretty well in my last 4 flower cycles. ive added yet another 600w in my veg room (2x600's), and still run 3x600's in the flower room. I would like to add co2 to the flower room as well. its a built 8x12x6.8 room with SIX layers of material (on floor/ceiling/all walls) and 4' overlaps on every seam. every screw is triple sealed and taped. I like over-kill, do it once and not have to mess with it later. its a sealed room, minus the intake fan (8") and scrubber. my hoods are off-set from center of the room by 1.5', I have 4 pots under each hood. the remaining space on the side of the room is for walking and working, and I have a couple "side pots" just to get a few more zips out of the cycle.

now ive read im just on the edge of the amount of light I would need to run co2 for the size of my room, but the whole room is not used for plants (off set from center). one friend tells me to run the co2 11/13 (on/off half hr before lights on/off), upon searching it mentioned 15 on/45 off, then cycle the room (air exchange). same buddy says to mount the lines behind my fan and have it blow on the plants, others say wind the lines on top of the stakes and have fan on ground pointing up.

so many people have so many different ways, I don't want to do it the wrong way. im going to do a test run tonight with a/c off, intake fan off, scrubber off, and all 3 18" oscillating fans on and see what my temps are at. read the magic temp is 80-90* for co2.

I haven't bought the co2 kit yet. its either this or buy a 1k light and take out the middle 600w. but then there goes my power bill and I just put in another 600 lamp. lol

 

[dexfarm]

Have you thought about getting rid of the intake and fully sealing the room? If so just keep the co2 hose above the plants behind a fan (like your friend suggested) and make sure to have good air circulation on the floor so the co2 that falls gets pushed back up to the underside of the leaves where it is utilized.

 

[We Solidarity]

Have you thought about getting rid of the intake and fully sealing the room? If so just keep the co2 hose above the plants behind a fan (like your friend suggested) and make sure to have good air circulation on the floor so the co2 that falls gets pushed back up to the underside of the leaves where it is utilized.

definitely do not do this unless you really like mold and humidity, at the most take the fan down and make your intake passive; repurpose your intake fan on another scrubber in the room and put your exhaust on a timer. That way you can maximize co2 and not rot out the space your growing in. Trust me- people who say sealed rooms with no air exchange is the way to go are completely ignorant to what humidity does to a building, you don't want to go there.

The most effective way to run co2 from tanks is to tape your lines to your lights, that way the co2 is falling over the canopy and is mixed by your oscillating fans (assuming you have fans on your canopy).

another option is to buy a gas burner - I've always preferred these over co2 tanks, they barely have to run to fill a small space with co2, and even running your exhaust 24/7 i doubt you'd be filling your propane as much as you would your co2. If your house has natural gas you can also run a gas line to the burner, if you're comfortable with that sort of stuff.

i definitely recommend getting a co2 meter too, there are some pretty basic ones out there for less than 100 bucks you can plug into your regulator. The meters are almost all light sensitive, so they will kick on your co2 equipment when the lights come on, and kick it off when it reaches your desired ppm.

I've run my co2 during the entire lights on, and i've also only run it the first 6 hours of the cycle; both techniques yielded the same results. You will not notice a crazy difference in your yields with co2 unless your temperatures are above 78 degrees, i usually run co2 rooms at 80-82.

hope this helps, i'm still drunk from last night ha

 

[DemonTrich]

this is the kit from h t g


decent kit with digital controller and photocell (imo)

I have no problem reconfiguring my grow. I can make it sealed as easily as putting a damper on the intake and putting the intake and scrubber on a timer. my room will be 85-90 light on with out my ac going and no incoming/exhaust air. I can manipulate my temps by 1 of 3 18" oscillating fans that blow under the hoods, or the 5 10" adjustable floor fans. I can get it down to 72-73* dead of summer...with my a/c on of course. so I can get my temps up for optimal co2 use with any issues.

 

[We Solidarity]

if you can get that kit for 450 that's a hell of a steal, pretty sure the 20lb tank alone is 2-300 at a grow store.

 

[DemonTrich]

I can piece it together from other sites and craigs list for the tank, but its still 100 more than this kit. I know its an entry controller, but its digital and photocell which I like. and I get a good discount there as well. and I can get a spare 20# tank for 50.00 or 5g of flowers form my buddy. so ill always have a full tank on hand. I do this for my bbq grill.

 

[sixstring]

you can do it with a timer but controllers let you know whats really in there at any time.heres a co2 calc for using a simple timer,your on time is 28 mins with the valve set at 2cfh.if you get a good valve that allows you higher setting like mine i set it at 10cfh and my on time would be 5 to 6 minutes for that room.as @We Solidarity said i would hang it up by the lights.it will drop to the floor without fans pushing it around.
but if you run it for 28 mins i would set up to exhaust every 2 hours and reset with another 28 min run time(or 6 mins with a bigger valve) and the sweet spot ime is 82 to 85f. plants dont need it during lights out.i run my lights from 7 am to 7 pm so my co2 was starting at 8 am after the room has time to heat up a bit.and i di my last refill at 6pm.it says a 20# tank will last 17 hours at that setting but with a controller it will be almost half of that,so expect to change out your tank about every 2 weeks.propane/gas burners def last alot longer plus they are much easier to refill without looking like a grower lol.gl heres the calc link.peace
https://www.hydroponics.net/learn/co2_calculator.asp

 

[DemonTrich]

thanks, found that link the other day and was checking things out. one thing that my buddy suggested is my available light. im only running 3x600 in a 8x12x6.5, but as said above my hoods are offset and I really only use 5' of the available 8'. the other 3' is my walking area and I put a few side pots in there to get a little more flowers. all my main plants are directly under the hoods (4 under each hood).

I have no prob refilling tanks as needed, costs of growing.

six, I might hit you up after I get the kit and am getting things set up and dialed in in you don't mind. from adding co2, and doing a new tek in veg (mainlining), I hope im not biting off more than I can chew at once. lol and my next harvest date falls around Christmas. lol not sure how im gonna pull that off as im a one man show in my garden (trimming and everything).

 

[sixstring]

yeah its no problem DT.if you go with that controller you can just put it on a timer even though it may have a photo cell to stop night time filling.that way it comes on when you want it and off before the plants start to shut down for the night.an hour here and there will savwe a shitload of co2 over the course of a full cycle.peace

 

[dexfarm]

definitely do not do this unless you really like mold and humidity,

I'm assuming, like with any 100% sealed room that he would get a dehumidifier also to control humidity.

 

[hiboy]

I have an 8 burner with a photo eye trigger very simple and it takes care of itself I always run it higher ppm that is what I learned from a gas burner just remember you'r burner will increase your heat from 5-8 degrees.

 

[DrFever]

Are you doing this inside your house ??? And if so i get pretty upset when i here people always looking at the cheapest way to implement C02
Yet forget one of the most important things SAFETY
you got kids pets family living under same roof ??
you have other costly c02 monitors through out your house ??? these things should be addressed
C02 is a silent killer and has no remorse to kill you your wife or your kids
And god forbid if something like that ever happened .. Specially when after its determined c02 was the cause of death and you get charged for murder and negligence just because you wanted to up your game growing MJ really lame isn't it
i mean person looking for the cheapest route for C02 life isnt cheap operating co2 properly is not cheap you have enviromental controllers being able to raise RH decrease RH, sniff amount of co2 and release enough c02 let alone other temp controllers and such
have your growing skills exceeded strain where as will see gains using c02
See what i am getting at here you better have a nice controller in place monitoring everything where as if you farted enviroment would detect it
are you able to maintain 90 degrees temps and combat RH at any level if not Your not ready for c02
just saying for what its worth thousands of growers using c02 are rather wasting there money an not utilizing it properly

I i were you i would nix co2 invest in a good enviroment controller hone your skills and most of all safety aspects
Lets not go killing your self or some loved one

 

[DemonTrich]

ive had same yield results for 5+ harvests +/-. I have 8 smoke alarms in my entire grow (underground) and 6 fire ext (all in proper working order). I grow in a small commercial building in a basement type setting. my r/h is below the recommended VDP threshold (holding about 42%). heat, im not worried about. I can adjust my heat my manipulating my fans in the room or adjusting my intake fan (which would be off while co2 is on) and I run 3x a/c hoods with 2x 8" 720cfm fans running 100%. no one lives in my grow nor above me. room is totally sealed, minus the intake and scrubber, which the intake could easily be sealed with a damper. ive grown the same strains for 5+ harvests and know them inside and out like I do my grow. its like factory assembly line. ive never had a bug (minus a fruit fly from the soil), never had a nute diff, or other plant problem, never had any duct work fall (im ocd when it comes to install of items).

I have a huge ultrasonic fogger system in my veg room about 10' away. I can plumb one port from the fogger to the flower room if needed, but I doubt low rh will be my issue. ill grab a deheuy if needed, as I have 25k+ into my grow over 4+ years and another 1k dropped last night. im not worried about costs associated with my grow.

 

[DemonTrich]

so Dr. fever, what are your thoughts?

and since co2 is heavier than air and sinks to the floor, there couldn't be a possibility of is migrating up into the level above me (its not a poured ceiling, its a wood ceiling like a house with a basement would be built (joists, sub floor, tile flooring). hvac unit is in basement plus water heater. ALL make up air gets sucked from upstairs, NOT downstairs.

 

[sixstring]

well if you go the bottled route it will help raise your r/h because there is alot of moisture in with the gas. heres a lil something about co2,it takes alot to kill us.so brand new bottle opened full throttle might do it,,if ya lay on the floor.just use a quality timer or controller and if you wanna go a step further always enter the room during a exhaust cycle.howmany co2 related deaths have we really seen that were from grow ops? im def curious to know if theres a number out there.

The number to watch for is 45 mm Hg of CO2 in the air, or 6% or 60,000 PPM – that is the concentration of CO2 that needs to be reached for the humankind to become extinct. If my math is serving me right, if we divide 60,000 PPM with 400 PPM we get the ‘kill factor’ for CO2: 150.

In other words, the concentration of CO2 needs to increase 150-fold for the CO2 to become toxic.

 

[DemonTrich]

like I said above, this is the kit I bought


entry level I know, but its good enough to get me going. ill score a better higher end controller in the future if need be.

im about to enter week 3 of flower. I might "rush" and get this things up and going, or I may just wait for the next round after I get some more reading done on setting this up. and might buy a dehewy as most of you guys are running one w/ co2

 

[DemonTrich]

one of a few controllers ive seen that would most likely benefit everything

if theres a better one post it up? but trying to stay under 300 if possible. like I said im not afraid to drop coin in my grow, but don't wanna brake the bank either.
http://www.amazon.com/Blueprint-Dig...sr=8-1&keywords=Digital+Atmosphere+Controller

 

[DemonTrich]

ok, Einstein basic co2 controller has been returned and pulled the trigger on this
http://www.amazon.com/Blueprint-Dig...&qid=1445969491&sr=8-5&keywords=blueprint+co2

 

[sixstring]

i dont know a thing about those,but that one looks badass,,,,and complicated haha.fuzzy is suposed to learn your rooms usage and save money/co2 somehow.it will be nice stepping in there and looking at the co2 levels and knowing whats up rather than just using a timer and dieing ;)

 

[DemonTrich]

I have a good "friend" who owns a grow store who also builds grow rooms. hes gonna help me set everything up. but this goes against everything ive said about allowing anyone in or know where my grow is. shit, my wife doesn't even know where its at. im the only 1. going to get another DuPont paint suit and booties for him. im super anal about my grow and unwanted pests.

4x120v plugs for deheuy, co2, fans, ect. my a/c will still have to be separate and still on a timer, as she pulls about 10 amps.