Home Made Co2 Tutorial

Would this set up release the needed CO2 in the amounts helpful for the plant (too much is lethal to just about everything, but will kill Spider Mites at that level,) and within the 500-1000ppm optimum for extra bud production? It seems a bit small, but let me know how it's working!

Ill be 100% honest, I used the method with champagne yeast and a 5 carbon sugar(Corn Syrup) in a 5 gallon bucket just as the original post suggested with a 20 - 25% solution of syrup to water... Allthough the amount of CO2 I produced is unknown I did make some nasty wine smelling water. I use a CO2 tank, and i understand that this is a cheap way to make your co2, but in all honesty I dont see it as being practical for larger grow ops, at the cost of the syrup $15 per gallon and 90 cents per champagne yeast packet, the device only make CO2 for a little over 2 weeks before becoming useless... By the time my crop would finish I would have spent enough money to purchase a CO2 tank and not have to worry about the CO2 bucket.

Some people were asking in previous posts, When do you add CO2?

I only use it for flower, allthough im sure some sneaks its way into the veg room, but I use CO2 to up my yield in flower, not my veg. You can take your plant from producing 1 - 2 ounces and increase it by up to 1 1/2 times.
Ive heard some people getting up to 4OZ from a single plant using co2.... but I have yet to accomplish that.

i just got back from the store and i bought 3 packets of yeast and 4lb bag of suger i could not find glucose. is it called glucose on the shelves? wat should i look 4 next time?

karo corn syrup is what a 5 carbon glucose is, the 6 corbon originally posted in the thread isnt available in the store. But the clear corn syrup is better than just granulated sugar.

word thankx t lips

Brilliant!! Thanks

Well Im new here But not new to the grow scene . If you want to use this kind a set up better to just make beer or wine its the fermentation of the sugars that produce the co2. and small bottles just wont produce much co2. for small grows a better option would be a baking soda acid generator all that is involed is dripping an acid Ie vinagar into a container of baking soda the chemical reation is a foam releasing co2 this is the reaction of the baking soda being baseing out the acid. But for a grow larger than a cab it would be cheaper to just use a co2 injector system.

I agree with jay.. By mass yeast can produce just under 50% fermentable sugar mass in ethanol.. A 2kg(4.4lbs) bag of sugar will yield just over 2lbs of ethanol.. Now a mole of ethanol weighs roughly 0.1lbs, so you're looking at roughly 20 moles of alcohol..
Now the fermentation process for glucose is:
C6H12O6(sugar) -> 2C2H5OH(ethanol) + 2CO2 + heat
So you're getting 1 mole of CO2 (thats 602000000000000000000000 molecules btw) for every 46mL of 'pure' alcohol produced, which works out to about 3 beers..
Now 1mole of an ideal gas will fill about 5USGallons at standard temp/pressure, so that 4lb bag will create enough over its entire fermentation period (which can be 3-30 days depending on lots of stuff) to fill 100Gallons or about 14cubic feet with pure CO2.. (Remember thats theoretical if it all reacted instantly)
So you want to dilute that 500-1000x giving you 7000-14000cubic feet of ideal air..
Now a typical closet is probably just under 50 cubic feet, so that works out to 140-280 exchanges of air..
Like I said fermentation time depends on skill as much as dope growing, so 5-10 days is doable for a beginner where as experience can take that down to 3days..
Assuming 5 days, that allows you to exchange optimum air 2-5 times/hr (12hr flower day)..
Heck, thats not that bad for a small space If scaled up a bit.. If engineered properly it actually might do well, and would definately help..
Cost would vary depending on what you're fermenting.. I'd go with 90% sugar, and 10% molasses for nutrient, and flavor, with a bit of diammonium phosphate for speed.. $1/day investment would atleast make a difference in a closet setup I think..
Bonus is, you get some alcohol to drink/distill (that would be a light rum btw after distillation)..
What does it cost/day to run a bottle? If I was bent on CO2 I'd probably want a bottle with gadgets, but I'd definately ferment in the same area.. I guess the final bonus would be odour disguise..

*Its 2:30am, all that math was done in my head.. Sorry if I goofed
*A mole is like a dozen.. A dozen is a word that means 12, a mole is a word that means 602000000000000000000000 (6.02*10^23).. Its just used in chemistry like a dozen is in a bakery
*Yeast is temperaturedependant.. Fastest at 80-100°F, nearly dormant at fridge temps, dead at just over 120°F.. I dunno if chilling it nightly wouldscrew it or not..
*You can add yeast from previous ferments instead of new stuff.. There is a bacterial limit if you're drinking it, but its beneficial actually if clean and not too old..

i did this for like 2 bucks, for the yeast and the sunny d bottle

Hags said:

i did this for like 2 bucks, for the yeast and the sunny d bottle

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What was your ppm before and after? how did you regulate it?

Co2 with no regulation is like nutes with no measuring; pointless.

(but a little extra CO2 I think can help, but not gonna make 2x buds)

Looks Good. Thanks

sorry but co2 is HEAVIER than air and will sink put some aquarium tube from 1 bigger bottle and run it around the top of the plants with pin holes init have fun

superskunkxnl said:

sorry but co2 is HEAVIER than air and will sink put some aquarium tube from 1 bigger bottle and run it around the top of the plants with pin holes init have fun

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But its not that much heavier. The circulation fan will keep it mixed up. Argon was added to welding gas (used to be straight CO2 back in the early days) to make it heavier. Plus remember its a green house gas that migrated into the upper atmosphere. Gets there somehow.

what kind of tool do you need to measure ppm?

xxbxrxextxtxx said:

what kind of tool do you need to measure ppm?

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I have one made by GE. Measures CO2 ppm and temp. Has analog output (I'm using that for both temp and CO2 control through a PLC) And a RS232 (not sure if its true RS232 or TTL) Cost me about $450.

You can get a 'reader' cheaper, but without control, I don't see much use. Plants will varying in how much they use how fast. I noticed that the first hour of light, they really don't use much.

Really? The probe isn't the expensive part of a CO2 ppm meter? I know they're expensive, and assumed the cost came from parts I couldn't whip together myself.. (I've done lots of pc interfacing)..
I wonder if any of those grade 9, simple CO2 indicator chemical tests could be adapted for low concentration, time lapse indication for average ppm over the time lapse period?
Actually, that must be possible since I've seen test strips for sale that were also pretty expensive..

just a quick shot of information for you guys,

CO2 is 1.5 times the mass of air. also aquarium tubing is the worst thing to use with CO2. You lose somewhere around 30% of your CO2 in the walls of your tubing which causes it to deteriorate. This is why they make CO2 tubing. Its generally black and they sell it at just about any hydroshop.

2nd for anyone spending a bit more money on their grow setup and not just a closet grow....
1 full 20lb tank - $150 USD
1 Regulator - $100 USD
1 CO2 Control System(monitors the amount of PPm & keeps your room at a constant 1600 PPm) - $300 USD

So for roughly under $500 you can have a nice little automated CO2 system and depending on the size of your grow room, you will only have to refill the tank once every 3 weeks.

My room is 6x8 and is not air tight, I burn through a 20lb bottle every 3 1/2 weeks, this brings my costs for CO2 to just under $60 USD per cycle!
After a few crops using yeast and now a 20lb bottle, this is my preferred choice. I have posted in this thread a few times, showing my yeast setups, as well as helping others with theirs, but in my experience with CO2, your best bet is to just do what I did.

Screw those boost buckets, for $150 USD and another $80 on the refill kit every cycle. Ive seen people waste money on these multiple times and the thing is pretty decent it produces CO2, but not worth the money.

ThunderLips said:

You lose somewhere around 30% of your CO2 in the walls of your tubing which causes it to deteriorate. This is why they make CO2 tubing. Its generally black and they sell it at just about any hydroshop.

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You have anything to back up the 30% loss? (I'm just not buying it)

(rest of the post is spot on.)

CO2-Proof Tubing - Black (per ft), CO2 Tubing > CO2 > Saltwater Aquarium Supplies

I couldnt remember where I had actually read the 30% loss but after a quick google search i found a site selling some co2 line that quotes up to a 20% loss from conventional airline tubing. I appologize for my inaccuaracy, but it was written off the top of my head.

Even a 20% loss is ridiculous. You have to remember the longer the tubing the more you're gonna lose.