To CO2 or not to CO2? That is the Question.

Piratemccall

Active Member
A few details:
I live on the bay in CA at sea - level, maritime layer leads to temperate climate most days and nights of the year. I have a 10' X 10' room on the second story, with a nice 8' X 4' southerly window. 90% of the center part of the window is covered with thin, blue curtain that offers discreetness but still allows a good amount of supplemental blue light, added to 1000w HPS, 600 W MH, & 54 W UVA/UVB. The windows are open on either side of the curtain to the equivalent of 4' X 3" on either side, so 4' X 6" total open ventilation on that wall. The climate control consists of temp controller connected to heater and 8" 420 cpm booster fan exhaust, and humidity controller connected to humidifier and dehumidifier. I'll leave the door open a crack for cross breeze or to cool on hotter days. All in all, it's able to maintain ideal climates pretty good and hassle free. Given this, any suggestions on the best way to incorporate co2? I don't believe I would want to make the full trade of to fully sealed room and give up some of the natural advantages for full on AC and the like. I don't have need for AC now and would like to not need one, though may be willing to include one if used sparingly. At the same time, I'd like to use co2 the best most productive way possible, while also not throwing the co2 away. I'm thinking some kind of spot/cooler days/hybrid open/closed regiment to take full advantage. Any ideas are very welcome.

Thanks
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
A few details:
I live on the bay in CA at sea - level, maritime layer leads to temperate climate most days and nights of the year. I have a 10' X 10' room on the second story, with a nice 8' X 4' southerly window. 90% of the center part of the window is covered with thin, blue curtain that offers discreetness but still allows a good amount of supplemental blue light, added to 1000w HPS, 600 W MH, & 54 W UVA/UVB. The windows are open on either side of the curtain to the equivalent of 4' X 3" on either side, so 4' X 6" total open ventilation on that wall. The climate control consists of temp controller connected to heater and 8" 420 cpm booster fan exhaust, and humidity controller connected to humidifier and dehumidifier. I'll leave the door open a crack for cross breeze or to cool on hotter days. All in all, it's able to maintain ideal climates pretty good and hassle free. Given this, any suggestions on the best way to incorporate co2? I don't believe I would want to make the full trade of to fully sealed room and give up some of the natural advantages for full on AC and the like. I don't have need for AC now and would like to not need one, though may be willing to include one if used sparingly. At the same time, I'd like to use co2 the best most productive way possible, while also not throwing the co2 away. I'm thinking some kind of spot/cooler days/hybrid open/closed regiment to take full advantage. Any ideas are very welcome.

Thanks
Don't. You do not need co2 unless you have a specific purpose. There's so much more that goes into co2 injection besides the co2 itself. Just practice growing and you'll increase your yields. To do co2 correctly, you have to prepare your grow space properly, and it's a very advanced technique to do correctly.

There's plenty of co2 in the air, and your plants aren't going to be starved of it with the door closed.

Also, if you don't have a real inline fan, you need to invest in one. Booster fans don't do much at all, and will not cool your space. They definitely aren't powerful enough under load, to use a carbon filter. You need something like this to properly vent your space, if you don't have one already.

Inline Fan Combo
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
Don't. You do not need co2 unless you have a specific purpose. There's so much more that goes into co2 injection besides the co2 itself. Just practice growing and you'll increase your yields. To do co2 correctly, you have to prepare your grow space properly, and it's a very advanced technique to do correctly.

There's plenty of co2 in the air, and your plants aren't going to be starved of it with the door closed.

Also, if you don't have a real inline fan, you need to invest in one. Booster fans don't do much at all, and will not cool your space. They definitely aren't powerful enough under load, to use a carbon filter. You need something like this to properly vent your space, if you don't have one already.

Thanks for the input, but I don't have an inline fan because I don't need one, point of the post, my natural environment is quite kind, and I have the luxury of opening the room to the outdoors to a greater extent than most, so like I said, with the climate, combined with humidifier and dehumidifier running on control, and temp control connected to heater and booster fan, maintaining ideals is not difficult and devices don't need to run much at all.

I'm also aware that the conversion to fully sealed means AC's and a bunch of other shit I don't want to deal with when unsealed is so friendly. That's why I am not sealing.

But I gotta disagree with you on "to do co2 correctly." Right after something to plant the seed in, and light, co2 is the most direct component of plant growth. As long as there is light and photosynthesis is taking place, there is no "wrong" way to elevate the co2 to a more stimulating level. You can absolutely "supplement" with co2, in a variety of ways. The only worry is not wanting to waste the co2 leaking it out.
So, it can be run more on cold days, half days, at night while the lights are still on, early morning. I can close the windows a bit more , but not all the way, and accept a co2 leakage while still having elevated levels. It's a completely separate room, it's flexible, can be totally or partially sealed any moment. Just wondering what people's experience was running co2 on a non constant regiment.
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
Hey man,

Thanks for the input, but I don't have an inline fan because I don't need one, point of the post, my natural environment is quite kind, and I have the luxury of opening the room to the outdoors to a greater extent than most, so like I said, with the climate, combined with humidifier and dehumidifier running on control, and temp control connected to heater and booster fan, maintaining ideals is not difficult and devices don't need to run much at all.

I'm also aware that the conversion to fully sealed means AC's and a bunch of other shit I don't want to deal with when unsealed is so friendly. That's why I am not sealing.

But I gotta disagree with you on "to do co2 correctly." Right after something to plant the seed in, and light, co2 is the most direct component of plant growth. As long as there is light and photosynthesis is taking place, there is no "wrong" way to elevate the co2 to a more stimulating level. You can absolutely "supplement" with co2, in a variety of ways. The only worry is not wanting to waste the co2 leaking it out.
So, it can be run more on cold days, half days, at night while the lights are still on, early morning. I can close the windows a bit more , but not all the way, and accept a co2 leakage while still having elevated levels. It's a completely separate room, it's flexible, can be totally or partially sealed any moment. Just wondering what people's experience was running co2 on a non constant regiment.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Waste of time, effort and money with your setup.

As long as you have all the fresh air like you do any CO2 you add is gone before the plants can use it.

You are basically growing outdoors, indoors.

I've been adding CO2 during the stretch period but also allowing the temps and humidity to go way up while the levels were raised. Now that I'm starting week 5 of flowering I just go downstairs and light my alcohol lamps a half hour before the lights come on to get CO2 levels up for the start of their day. I snuff them out when the light comes on and in less than an hour the room gets hot enough that the fan kicks in and the extra CO2 is gone.

Then I dial back my climate control to keep the max temp at 75 and humidity around 35%. I'm flowering in a cool basement so don't have A/C or a dehumidifier. Northern Alberta is naturally dry. All the air that enters the room comes from the basement area and is exhausted outside.

You'll do great with what you have going.

:peace:
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
Waste of time, effort and money with your setup.

As long as you have all the fresh air like you do any CO2 you add is gone before the plants can use it.

You are basically growing outdoors, indoors.

I've been adding CO2 during the stretch period but also allowing the temps and humidity to go way up while the levels were raised. Now that I'm starting week 5 of flowering I just go downstairs and light my alcohol lamps a half hour before the lights come on to get CO2 levels up for the start of their day. I snuff them out when the light comes on and in less than an hour the room gets hot enough that the fan kicks in and the extra CO2 is gone.

Then I dial back my climate control to keep the max temp at 75 and humidity around 35%. I'm flowering in a cool basement so don't have A/C or a dehumidifier. Northern Alberta is naturally dry. All the air that enters the room comes from the basement area and is exhausted outside.

You'll do great with what you have going.

:peace:
Cool man, thanks for the share.
Yes, I'm blessed with having a very solid climate base and palliate. The outdoor climate combined with my existing climate control is more than adequate to ensure optimal climate, and great latitude to control direction of both temp and humidity.

Like I said, it's a solid, worry free, cost efficient base that I would not trade straight up for sealing it with constant co2. But it does allow me to tinker, a lot like how you describe using your given environment to your advantage. There are many nights and mornings, and cold days, where if I do seal the room , it levels off ideally for co2 without the need for ac. then times it's a little warmer than that, I can get the same effect by opening the windows slightly.
Roughly calculating the rate of air replacement, there's definitely a threshold between fully sealed open where the circulation of air does not completely negate the benefits of the added co2. You know, just try to get it in where it fits in. Never had the need for it, but all else pretty locked in, and co2 is a building block, should be using it...
I mean, here's my billion dollar idea, based off adapting to my situation. I've never used co2, but tell me what you think, or if you've heard of it: Take my room, windows open a bit, light breeze/transfer of air, but not a lot of circulation and high resulting temps. co2 is heavier than air, so i put one of those dog cones around the base of the plant to the base of the foliage.run tubing to drop the co2 into the cone. Theoretically, i think the co2 should fill the cone and with low air circulation, kind of bubble over like smoke in a witch's brew. I think the co2 would be highly centralized directly under and around the plant, Possibly needing low amounts of co2 and being very efficient... what do you think? Is that a thing?
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
You also have to allow your temps to get much warmer when using co2 for the plants to be able to take advantage of the increased co2. It goes back to a long time ago, when the planet was warmer and co2 levels were higher. It's in their genes to be able to take in more co2 at higher temps. You only inject co2 for a few weeks in flower, but you have to have a sealed room to do it. A zipped up tent isn't even enough to contain the gas.

Besides having a sealed area, proper equipment to burn and regulate correctly costs hundreds. It's just not worth it, IMHO.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Not actually a thing I don't think but I'm a chemist not a plant scientist.

While it's true that CO2 is heavier than air it mixes readily with air and stays mixed in. Otherwise we would all suffocate on a calm day. :)

If you're into brewing beer or wine set something up in the corner of the grow room and let it supply some gas. I did that years ago with a 6gal glass carboy I have using sugar with distillers yeast but no yeast nutrients so it took over a month to finish fermenting. Then I ran that thru my DIY pot still 3 times to make EverClear out of it and got pissed for a month. :)

It doesn't take much to raise CO2 levels. I bought a simple CO2 controller last year and it has LEDs on it to indicate levels. In a 9x9ft bedroom a single candle got the ppm over 1500 in less than 30 min. I've made alcohol lamps out of mason jars using tiki lamp wicks and it takes 20 min to have my grow room over 1500 and as long as the exhaust fan doesn't come on it takes about 3 hours to get down below 800. It's a simple controller that doesn't use a digital display so not sure how low or high the ppm is when it's outside the range displayed by the LEDs. It's actually made to control a solenoid for a CO2 tank or switch a gas burner on and off. Cost $270 tho. The same model with the digital display was $200 more.

CO2Controller03.jpg

Nothing wrong with experimenting. Hard to know whether changes you make are actually making a difference without proper controls and methodology tho.

Keeps it interesting for sure. :)

:peace;
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Not actually a thing I don't think but I'm a chemist not a plant scientist.

While it's true that CO2 is heavier than air it mixes readily with air and stays mixed in. Otherwise we would all suffocate on a calm day. :)

If you're into brewing beer or wine set something up in the corner of the grow room and let it supply some gas. I did that years ago with a 6gal glass carboy I have using sugar with distillers yeast but no yeast nutrients so it took over a month to finish fermenting. Then I ran that thru my DIY pot still 3 times to make EverClear out of it and got pissed for a month. :)

It doesn't take much to raise CO2 levels. I bought a simple CO2 controller last year and it has LEDs on it to indicate levels. In a 9x9ft bedroom a single candle got the ppm over 1500 in less than 30 min. I've made alcohol lamps out of mason jars using tiki lamp wicks and it takes 20 min to have my grow room over 1500 and as long as the exhaust fan doesn't come on it takes about 3 hours to get down below 800. It's a simple controller that doesn't use a digital display so not sure how low or high the ppm is when it's outside the range displayed by the LEDs. It's actually made to control a solenoid for a CO2 tank or switch a gas burner on and off. Cost $270 tho. The same model with the digital display was $200 more.

View attachment 4138842

Nothing wrong with experimenting. Hard to know whether changes you make are actually making a difference without proper controls and methodology tho.

Keeps it interesting for sure. :)

:peace;
LOL, I used to do yeast buckets too! You definitely smell it, and I'd bet it does supply some. How much, is questionable though. But yeah, it's a cheap way to try! I had an aquarium heater in my bucket, to keep temps up and keep the yeast feeding. I also used a small aquarium air pump to push air into the bucket, forcing the enriched air out. I got a little light headed around my grow a few times from it. Reminded me of nitrogen narcossis from diving :)
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
LOL, I used to do yeast buckets too! You definitely smell it, and I'd bet it does supply some. How much, is questionable though. But yeah, it's a cheap way to try! I had an aquarium heater in my bucket, to keep temps up and keep the yeast feeding. I also used a small aquarium air pump to push air into the bucket, forcing the enriched air out. I got a little light headed around my grow a few times from it. Reminded me of nitrogen narcossis from diving :)
When brewing you use an airlock to prevent air from getting into your wort so adding air isn't the right way to do that. Mine ran so slow that there really wasn't any smell. Normally it would take only a few days to a week to ferment the batch but I wanted it to run slow. I just had it tucked in a corner of the grow room with a garbage bag over it to block light and just the lock showing at the top.

Wish I'd had the controller at the time so I could have seen how much it actually added and I'm staying off the booze now so I'll stick to burning methyl hydrate when I want more CO2. Forgot to light them up today and I don't think I'll bother with it any more for this grow. Keeping the temps down to 70 - 75 and RH below 40% is kicking the exhaust in regularly and that's good enough.

Need brewing info check this site out HomeDistiller.org

:peace:
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
Not actually a thing I don't think but I'm a chemist not a plant scientist.

While it's true that CO2 is heavier than air it mixes readily with air and stays mixed in. Otherwise we would all suffocate on a calm day. :)

If you're into brewing beer or wine set something up in the corner of the grow room and let it supply some gas. I did that years ago with a 6gal glass carboy I have using sugar with distillers yeast but no yeast nutrients so it took over a month to finish fermenting. Then I ran that thru my DIY pot still 3 times to make EverClear out of it and got pissed for a month. :)

It doesn't take much to raise CO2 levels. I bought a simple CO2 controller last year and it has LEDs on it to indicate levels. In a 9x9ft bedroom a single candle got the ppm over 1500 in less than 30 min. I've made alcohol lamps out of mason jars using tiki lamp wicks and it takes 20 min to have my grow room over 1500 and as long as the exhaust fan doesn't come on it takes about 3 hours to get down below 800. It's a simple controller that doesn't use a digital display so not sure how low or high the ppm is when it's outside the range displayed by the LEDs. It's actually made to control a solenoid for a CO2 tank or switch a gas burner on and off. Cost $270 tho. The same model with the digital display was $200 more.

View attachment 4138842

Nothing wrong with experimenting. Hard to know whether changes you make are actually making a difference without proper controls and methodology tho.

Keeps it interesting for sure. :)

:peace;
Right on. Yeah, I looked into the yeast/sugar "co2 generator" idea, looks plausible, but it's bugged me that haven't found study or info on how much co2 is produced. If you have any idea, that'd be awesome. I agree that I don't want to get into it without a co2 controller, and that bumping up the cost of the whole endeavor is really the only reason haven't just pulled the trigger already. Wish they cost like temp/hum controllers... forgive me, when you say a single candle got it over 1500, are you talking about a co2 burner, or literally just a candle?
But with the bucket idea, it's true that when released in a room, it will "sink" before it fully integrates with the air, right? As in, it's not instant. It seems that fact would mean that some level of collection and containment around the base must be a force multiplier to some extent. To what, I don't know.
Anyway, the ease you're describing of affecting co2 levels in the room reinforces the idea it's a resource I can and should be harnessing more, just like the light, water and nutes.
Again, not just cranking a co2 tank with windows wide open, but finding the best way to affect co2 levels, just like other means are affecting temp, humidity, etc....
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
LOL, I used to do yeast buckets too! You definitely smell it, and I'd bet it does supply some. How much, is questionable though. But yeah, it's a cheap way to try! I had an aquarium heater in my bucket, to keep temps up and keep the yeast feeding. I also used a small aquarium air pump to push air into the bucket, forcing the enriched air out. I got a little light headed around my grow a few times from it. Reminded me of nitrogen narcossis from diving :)
That's the thing with the yeast, it seems like maybe it could work real well, or maybe it's nothing levels of co2. I just don't know and can't find any figures, just people telling how to make it. I'm not one to just try out hocus pocus, especially if it smells. My inclination is that it's not worth it, if it was that easy I think the world would have done away with tanks and burners by now. But I don't know. Wish I could find someone who's tested it with readings.
 

Michael Huntherz

Well-Known Member
CO2 is premature optimization in almost every circumstance, as others have mentioned. There may be folks on here who have taken measurements, and I bet they would tell you gains were minimal to nonexistent and it isn’t worth the trouble. Keep it simple, I say.
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
You also have to allow your temps to get much warmer when using co2 for the plants to be able to take advantage of the increased co2. It goes back to a long time ago, when the planet was warmer and co2 levels were higher. It's in their genes to be able to take in more co2 at higher temps. You only inject co2 for a few weeks in flower, but you have to have a sealed room to do it. A zipped up tent isn't even enough to contain the gas.

Besides having a sealed area, proper equipment to burn and regulate correctly costs hundreds. It's just not worth it, IMHO.
Hey JS,
Exactly. That's what I'm saying, there are many times where nature is very conducive to running co2, I.e., time where if the room is sealed, the temps get good for co2 but not so hot that I'd need an ac.

But again, I gotta disagree with your timing and conditions of when to use co2. You're making it much more specialized than it is. It's not a nutrient booster, it's one of the three pillars of photosynthesis. co2, ho2, and light. That's the beginning and end of photosynthesis, aka plants growing. co2, water & light energy combined produce glucose and oxygen: 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2. And you're way over emphasizing the need to be 100 % sealed.

The only iron clad "condition" I'm aware of is not running at night, just a waste because no photosynthesis, and cases of extremely high humidity or low nitrogen. But by and large, science shows a direct correlation with increased co2 and increased growth, even if the temperature doesn't go up. There are studies on plants that actually benefit more from co2 if the temp does not rise than if it does.

But yeah, the cost and the fact that climate is perfectly fine as it is, prob wont. Basically because if I am gonna do it, I want the meter, i'd want a little ac unit just to have, and it's a lot when not sure how much benefit it'd be. I'm pretty confident if I had all the equipment, it would definitely benefit in the long run, but finding out how much maybe not worth the cost.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
when you say a single candle got it over 1500, are you talking about a co2 burner, or literally just a candle?
Yep. Just a standard candle you'd use on a dinner table. Actually get packs of 5 'emergency' candles at the bargain store for a buck or two and it was one of those.

Just sitting in my flower room the other day for about an hour tending to my girls with no burner going the top LED on the controller was blinking to show it was over 1500 so if you sleep with your plants while their lights are on they are getting lots of extra CO2. It was blinking the bottom light when I first went in.

But with the bucket idea, it's true that when released in a room, it will "sink" before it fully integrates with the air, right?
Unless you have dead static wind conditions it won't sink at all. With my burners the CO2 is rising with the hot air and the 12" oscillating fan that runs 24/7 mixes the whole room from floor to ceiling. A larger 16" fan is bolted to the ceiling aimed to blow across the canopy to create a circular flow in the room. Only a 9x7x6.5' room and I've checked air flow all over the room and even in the corners at the back of the room the air is moving around some.

The only time you can really see CO2 sink is when dry ice sublimes and the 1,000,000ppm CO2 shows as a fog and sinks. If a fan was on it you'd just see a bit at the top of the container it was in. The rest would dissipate into the surrounding air rapidly.

I takes very little CO2 to raise the ppm to optimal levels of around 1500ppm. Other things need to be fine tuned to take advantage of it tho like higher temps, more light and higher nute levels. If any one is less than optimal then the whole chain breaks down.

If I manage to come up with an extra grand I'll get a CO2 tank and a portable A/C unit and run my flower room sealed to keep everything at peak performance. but don't really need to as I'm just growing for my own use so production isn't a huge concern. Getting into breeding CBD strains and have everything I need for decent growing now. After 40 years of growing pot the thrill is gone but it can still be fun.

I love fishing more but if I had to do it to support myself I'd grow to hate it soon enough. :)

:peace:
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
CO2 is premature optimization in almost every circumstance, as others have mentioned. There may be folks on here who have taken measurements, and I bet they would tell you gains were minimal to nonexistent and it isn’t worth the trouble. Keep it simple, I say.
The gains can be more than minimal if everything is fine tuned to get the most out of it but then you're always running on the edge of disaster.

Like you can drive your car to work and back for years with a little maintenance to keep it dependable but soup it up and race it all the time and you're rebuilding it all the time too.

Depends what your needs and goals are and that applies to most aspects of life.

:peace:
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
CO2 is premature optimization in almost every circumstance, as others have mentioned. There may be folks on here who have taken measurements, and I bet they would tell you gains were minimal to nonexistent and it isn’t worth the trouble. Keep it simple, I say.
I hear you, I've found reason enough to not use it til now. But I don't think it's snake oil. Again, it's CO2, basically CO2 + H2O + light = plant. Hundreds of studies on hundreds of species, seems as a general rule 300 ppm increase leading to 20%-30% increase in size and yield of plants as a whole, even in the hands of a stoner. And many plants were shown to have even better increase when temp and hum did not rise. But cannabis "science" is so anecdotal, "this saved my crop" or "this killed my crop" ... I don't know, I haven't done it for a reason, but out of all the inputs, it's the only one I'm not affecting, and it is right up there with light and water as far as building block of flora, so feels a little empty... but whatever, don't have it cuz don't need it, it'd be a luxury to tinker with.
 

Piratemccall

Active Member
Yep. Just a standard candle you'd use on a dinner table. Actually get packs of 5 'emergency' candles at the bargain store for a buck or two and it was one of those.

Just sitting in my flower room the other day for about an hour tending to my girls with no burner going the top LED on the controller was blinking to show it was over 1500 so if you sleep with your plants while their lights are on they are getting lots of extra CO2. It was blinking the bottom light when I first went in.



Unless you have dead static wind conditions it won't sink at all. With my burners the CO2 is rising with the hot air and the 12" oscillating fan that runs 24/7 mixes the whole room from floor to ceiling. A larger 16" fan is bolted to the ceiling aimed to blow across the canopy to create a circular flow in the room. Only a 9x7x6.5' room and I've checked air flow all over the room and even in the corners at the back of the room the air is moving around some.

The only time you can really see CO2 sink is when dry ice sublimes and the 1,000,000ppm CO2 shows as a fog and sinks. If a fan was on it you'd just see a bit at the top of the container it was in. The rest would dissipate into the surrounding air rapidly.

I takes very little CO2 to raise the ppm to optimal levels of around 1500ppm. Other things need to be fine tuned to take advantage of it tho like higher temps, more light and higher nute levels. If any one is less than optimal then the whole chain breaks down.

If I manage to come up with an extra grand I'll get a CO2 tank and a portable A/C unit and run my flower room sealed to keep everything at peak performance. but don't really need to as I'm just growing for my own use so production isn't a huge concern. Getting into breeding CBD strains and have everything I need for decent growing now. After 40 years of growing pot the thrill is gone but it can still be fun.

I love fishing more but if I had to do it to support myself I'd grow to hate it soon enough. :)

:peace:
Well, sounds like you're saying you think lighting a votiv in room each day would probably have a tangible effect?
 

Michael Huntherz

Well-Known Member
I hear you, I've found reason enough to not use it til now. But I don't think it's snake oil. Again, it's CO2, basically CO2 + H2O + light = plant. Hundreds of studies on hundreds of species, seems as a general rule 300 ppm increase leading to 20%-30% increase in size and yield of plants as a whole, even in the hands of a stoner. And many plants were shown to have even better increase when temp and hum did not rise. But cannabis "science" is so anecdotal, "this saved my crop" or "this killed my crop" ... I don't know, I haven't done it for a reason, but out of all the inputs, it's the only one I'm not affecting, and it is right up there with light and water as far as building block of flora, so feels a little empty... but whatever, don't have it cuz don't need it, it'd be a luxury to tinker with.
Hm, I guess I underestimated the effect because of the hassle. 20-30% is pretty huge. Now you have me thinking...
 
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