Home Made Co2 Tutorial

wheezgethigh

Active Member
Home Made Carbon Dioxide Tutorial

Well after asking around and finding the simplest methods I came across a real easy way of making home made Co2 (thanks to skunkishybrid and m420) and i've illustrated it aswell, just thought i'd help a few of you out there who are new to this like myself.

When plants photosynthesise to make energy and grow they use Water (h20) and Carbon Dioxide (Co2) plus Light. They use half the amount of Carbon Dioxide to the amount of Water they use so this is alot of Carbon Dioxide if you think about the amount you water them, so giving them a boost of Carbon Dioxide during growth would be an advantage.

So here's my guide on how to make your own little amount of Carbon Dioxide to give your plants the boost they would love.

Step 1.
Obtain a bottle of any size, preferably plastic and fill it half way with water




Step 2.
Peirce the plastic lid using a hot pair of scissor or a pin




Step 3.
Make a funnel, either out of some card or paper or grab a funnel from your kitchen




Step 4.
Get some yeast, doesnt really matter what sort of yeast as long as it's active.. This only cost me £1.50 Sterling so probebly about $2-$3




Step 5.
Get some sugar or glucose, I've used sugar but glucose is cheaper, just get what you can get your hands on




Step 6.
Put about 1/5th of sugar to water in your bottle and the same for the yeast, 1/5th, it doesnt really matter so long as you have a decent enough amount




Step 7.
Ensure that your water has gone cloudy and remove your funnel and put the lid back on your bottle




Step 8.
I've used about this much yeast/suger mix at the bottom of my bottle




Step 9.
Cover the hole at the top of your bottle and shake well and continue to shake regularly for the next 48 hours to start off the reaction




Step 10.
Leave to stand for a second and pretty much straight the way bubbles should be on the top, this is the Co2 being given off



Positioning
The bottles should be ideally placed at pot height, because from what I remember from chemistry Carbon Dioxide is lighter than air, because air contains so much nitrogen which is a heavy (Carbon = 12 atomic mass / Nitrogen = 14 atomic mass) so if place at pot height the Carbon Dioxide will rise into the plants leaves and stem where the photosynthesis occurs



this is a 3D image of how mine are setup




Finally
Hey presto, everytime you want to give your plants a little boost of Carbon Dioxide the cheap way! Just shake up the bottle and stand it next to your beloved plant. For greater Carbon Dioxide production, use a bigger bottle. If no more bubbles are produced after shaking your bottle then it means you need to add more sugar, if no more bubbles are produced after the sugar has been added then more yeast must be added to the solution.


Much lurve.

Paul:joint:
dude has soon has i read this i got all tha shits n my kitchen yes i jus put 1 n my veg closet w/ 20 young clones bout 3 wks old and 1 n my flower closet with 2 3 ft tall plants put 1 thing my bottles r not 1 or 2 l there tha personal bottles like 16 oz or something till i get tha 2l bottels that should do for now lol love to gro bro lol
:peace::joint::mrgreen::eyesmoke:
 

jolly8541

Well-Known Member
Aight y'all, I've read this thread from beginning to end and no one has said that this either does or does not produce noticeable results. Does anyone out there have a definate answer on wether or not this method of Co2 production is capable of producing an increased harvest? Its just a question, I just got back from the store with the necessary items to produce my own imperical evidence. We'll see in a few weeks I guess.
 

Megax29

Well-Known Member
Aight y'all, I've read this thread from beginning to end and no one has said that this either does or does not produce noticeable results. Does anyone out there have a definate answer on wether or not this method of Co2 production is capable of producing an increased harvest? Its just a question, I just got back from the store with the necessary items to produce my own imperical evidence. We'll see in a few weeks I guess.
any amount of added c02 will definatly help your plants but to get real noticeable results id go with an actual machine that produces c02
 

bruntyman

Active Member
so what about adding a air stone to your suger and water and yeast... hmm has any one thought of that... my thought was he said if u want a extra boost just shake it up.. well i made one and put a air stone in in.. then i made it air tight with 1 hose going in and 2 going out of the lid.... with a small air hose. with holes drilled in it.. then put it around the plant... wha u think
 
I have a question about the application of this wonderful device. It's been a while since Chem 101 but is Co2 heavier than air or does it matter where the container is located? Should I just place it between my 4 pots or set it up on a shelve for the best, most efficient resuts?

Great Tutorial, thanks a bunch H2O!
your actually suppose to set it atleast even with the top of the canopy if not higher because like you said co2 is heavier then air
 

Ol' Scrumpy

Member
The easiest way to do this is to scale it up a bit...like to a 5gal bucket, and use tubing to run from the top of the bucket, running all the way around the canopy of your plants. You want to cap off one end however you can, and poke very small holes in the tubes. Also, you will need to be sure the tube fits air tight in to the lid of the bucket. Silicon caulk works well. I usually use a lighter to melt the end of aquarium tubing and pinch it together, and then I use an all (looks like a screwdriver, but it has a sharp, tapered, point rather than a flat or cross head on it) to make the holes. If the holes are small enough, you will get CO2 through all of the holes from beginning to end.

Alternatively you can use slightly larger tubing, and slightly larger holes, and put BOTH ends of the tube in to the bucket. You have to be careful when doing this though, because if the gas is not able to escape fast enough through all of the holes you made, then pressure will build up and either blow the top off of the bucket, or blow the tube out of the lid...either way, IT CAN BE MESSY! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!
You can tell pressure is not building if you can feel the CO2 coming out of all the holes with little pressure. If you feel a sharp, fast stream of the gas coming out of the holes, then make the holes bigger, make more, or even add another tube.
If you can't feel gas escaping from the holes toward the end of the tube, then you made your holes too big or made too many.

It will take time for the CO2 production to reach its peak, so you would just need to check on it from time to time to adjust the number or size of the holes or number of tubes you're using.
 

chronichaze

Well-Known Member
Read through a lot but still didnt answer my questions. Is this worth doing? Right now I have a sealed room that I open every so often because there is no exhaust running out or in. This setup is only temporary but would this DIY CO2 make a difference in this situation? Has anyone here noticed any difference or increase in growth while using this DIY CO2?
 

kingofqueen

Well-Known Member
I have read many times that this method helps minimal at best and you have to keep re mixing the bottles alot of work for little results.
I have seen this exact article before and its wrong about co2 being lighter than air its heavier! I use dry ice in a styrofoam cooler with holes in it.I put this above my reflector so that the co2 cascades down the light and onto the plants. I had to tweak the amount of holes when the plants are exsposed to too much they droop pretty badly to protect themselves .then once its corrected they liven back up.
 

1nicegrow

Member
to small and wont last or do much...better recipe is this...5 gal bucket with a lid and a strech of 3/4 inch flexible pvc pipe to loop so the end hangs above the plants. cut a 3/4 inch hole and insert the end into the lid and duct tape the crap out of it. boil 4 galons of water and allow to cool a bit so it dont melt your bucket then add 10 lbs of sugar gradualy and stiring it into the mix. the hot water will help the sugar to disolve better and it will react with the yeast better.
now...go make some toast as a float...i like chunky bread cause I can make a bowl in it for the yeast. simply add half a jar of yeast to our taost boat and float it on the water...at this point it should be almost all he way cool so just put the lid on the bucket and duct tape that as well...as co2 is created it will store in the empty space till it is full and presure will push it out the hose onto the plants. this mix lasts about 3 weeks and works great.

This is not my recipe...i got it from the net to but cant find the sight anymore to link for you
 
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