Dry ice ?!?

http://www.mclendons.com/img/products/04/045010.jpg

cheap effective winter time co2 generator make a case out of an old pc case like a 400 dollar co2 generator for 10.00 dont burn your house down only use it if you can safely

I know they rip people off. Thats why my tank hasnt gotten refilled in years

There arent many paintball shops around where I live. The next closest one is like a 30 minute drive. The field I used to play at was a good hour drive (there are other fields but they fuckin suck).

So yeah. 5 bux for a huge bag of drive ice, or a hour drive for cheaper co2. Dry ice it is xD

I don't think you understand. You don't get the co2 from a paintball store. You go to a gas refill place, a welding supply store search for a welding supply store in your city.

If your using 5-10 bucks of dry ice a day, in a week you would've paid for a tank and a refill...

Really, it's not worth it using dry ice as a means of co2 enrichment. Way more costly than just getting a tank. Plus I don't think there's any way of measuring the ppm density, unless you get a ppm meter, which will run about 200 bucks. With a tank and a simple bleeder system you're looking at right about 200 bucks.

Your choice I guess, but seriously reconsider buying all that dry ice, it's like throwing money out the window. You only have to make one investment in a tank and relay bleeder valve, then refills are super cheap, and a tank in a closet will last probably a year...

I voiced my opinion, dry ice is a waste of money, if you want to be cost efficient and do it right, get a tank.

pickleman said:

im interested too ive been thinking the same thing also a camping lantern or stove or heater or anything that uses propane

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i say those would be bad ideas. you don't want fire hazerds.

A co2 generator is basically a propane grill in a box, they also make models that run on natural gas. Great if heat isn't an issue in your garden.

But...

Co2 generators come with an autolight ignition, so you won't have to worry about it going out and filling the room with gas, also it has a tipover switch. It will turn itself off if it isn't upright.

They are relatively safe to use, as long as you take precaution of not having flammable material around the device.

But yeah, anything that burns propane or gas will emit tons of co2. The generators can be made for fairly cheap if you want to go the DIY route. But the safety devices are already built into the ones you can purchase.

Hahaha, you could light up a propane grill in the growroom but I think that would make the plants hungry... Jk that would be dangerous, sorta. Would be great for a greenhouse, that's what generators are designed for, greenhouses.

MrHowardMarks said:

I don't think you understand. You don't get the co2 from a paintball store. You go to a gas refill place, a welding supply store search for a welding supply store in your city.

If your using 5-10 bucks of dry ice a day, in a week you would've paid for a tank and a refill...

Really, it's not worth it using dry ice as a means of co2 enrichment. Way more costly than just getting a tank. Plus I don't think there's any way of measuring the ppm density, unless you get a ppm meter, which will run about 200 bucks. With a tank and a simple bleeder system you're looking at right about 200 bucks.

Your choice I guess, but seriously reconsider buying all that dry ice, it's like throwing money out the window. You only have to make one investment in a tank and relay bleeder valve, then refills are super cheap, and a tank in a closet will last probably a year...

I voiced my opinion, dry ice is a waste of money, if you want to be cost efficient and do it right, get a tank.

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This is the conclusion we have decided upon...
We'll sneak the tank in..
Thanks!

Yeah, a garbage bag, laundry bag, or whatever will easily conceal a tank... They are heavy, so you'll have to pretend it's not that heavy if it's supposed to be laundry.

I think it's very important not to try and include CO2 until you've perfected the balance of environmental levels in the grow area. Make sure you can maintain a proper temperature with the door sealed, obviously if you're using CO2 and constantly refreshing the air...you're just wasting CO2. You'll need a sealed chamber with a constant environment. THEN add CO2, and realize your temperature will rise when the CO2 % in the chamber is higher.

Also, if you're just growing in a tiny area, will you definitely need a heater? I'd think the light would make the room pretty warm, especially if its a sealed environment.

Sorry if this was repetitive, but it bore saying.

HID lamp plus CO2 will probably put a small area above the perfect growth temp, so if its gonna be real cold there that might be a good thing. Perhaps just have the heater on a thermostat at night, set to 10 degrees less than daytime temps.

How important is Co2? I have a small grow space. Should I be pumping Co2 in there somehow?

MrHowardMarks said:

Yeah, a garbage bag, laundry bag, or whatever will easily conceal a tank... They are heavy, so you'll have to pretend it's not that heavy if it's supposed to be laundry.

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wrap it with a blanket and put a lamp shade on top (thats what i used to do with the 3 ft tanks of nitrous)

Good one, how often would you be moving lamps around at concerts and parties...


-I don't quote-

Co2 isn't essential for good buds, it is the primary gas that is uptaken by the plant in order for growth. Air, light, and water.

Saying that, you can get much better results by adding co2 to your garden.

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As far as temps rising by using co2, that has a lot of variables, and points of interest.

The optimum temp for co2 absorbtion is quite high, you'll need to stay around 85 degrees, I've seen a few strains thrive at 90 degrees, but it's not recommended for most strains.

If you want the best results, invest in a ppm controller, one like the ppm2a by CAP has "fuzzy-logic" where it learns the grow room, suited best for tank setups, great product, what i used. There are cheaper models that have a simple on/off relay which does the job, and works for generators. The ppm2a also has the on/off setting.

Fuzzy-logic, it will maintain within 20 points of the desired range, say you want it at 1400, it will learn the room and adjust the amount of time the relay runs, it will click on and off, with short spurts of co2 in order to stay within that range.

An on/off relay would run to 1500, the it will wait until it drops to 1000, then kick it up to 1500... Etc.


If you're using a tank system, there won't be any increase in the temperature, unless you change your ventillation setup.

Co2 works by flowing over the leaves of the plant, so circulation is a must, fans are vital.

If you're using a co2 generator, you will definately need to think about ventillation.

In my experience, I continued to vent my lights into a seperate room, pulling "precious" co2 out of the room, otherwise the temps would be too high, I was using a 850 CFM fan to pul air out, so I surely was wasting co2, I pumped the exhaust into a second bloom room, with only 2 lights, that then vented into the HVAC.

nice info mrhowardmarks. I'm about to buy a co2 system tomorrow and was wondering what temps were the best while using co2, 80*f sounds good to me.

10 pounds left in the bag it is supplied in will only last a day at best. you would need to somehow slow down the rate it dissipates and would need to take care that it was not in an airtight container (ie a sealed cooler)as it will blow apart. You would need to have a massive amount of it for it to work and I would hardly consider it cost effective. a great possibility and will work wonders if you can get ahold of alot of it. Please take care not to touch the block it will burn you seriously

^Great first post^

Very correct, too bad that's already been covered

-The best temps for co2 are between 80-86 degrees, the pores of the leaves will be more open and allow them to absorb the co2

$5/10lb is probably the cheapest route to CO2, but what is the minimum purchase since you can't really store it?..
Sublimed, that works out to just under 30,000 cuft of ideal 1500ppm CO2 air.. How many is your grow room? If you were growing in a 60cuft closet for instance that would be enough for 500 air exchanges eqv..
Although its probably not going to work out that way unless you come up with an ingenius way to stabilize the sublimation rate to match your room parameters.. The thing that worries me about dry ice over a boost bucket is the fact that I know for a fact I'm not going to hit toxic CO2 levels, where as with dry ice, I dunno about that..