The Real Scoop on Co2

[BeaverHuntr]

There seems to be differing opions on the level of co2 necessary to kill bugs. Co2 WILL kill all bugs as it is toxic, its not just the fact that oxygen levels are reduced. Grain is stored in super high co2 levels...like 70% co2 which is 700,000 PPM. There are several journal articles out there about co2 concentrations and exposure times to kill various pests. The most usefull article however has units that I can't fucking seem to convert

10,000 ppm is the number I have heard thrown around quite a bit. Some people swear by it. My monitor only reads to 5k. I have gased spider mites before and had mixed success. Again, my rates might not have been high enough. Spider mites and aphids don'[t need a whole lot of co2 to kill them. Fungus knats however need dangerous levels.. Levels that I would not want in my basement...like 100,000 ppm.

in terms of bottled over burner... I HIGHLY recommend you get a burner. A tank only lasts a week at best in a small sealed room and runnning back and fortha nd back and forth to get bottles is a REAL pain in the ass. This is not to mention that bottled co2 is 600% more expensive than propane, or even better NG generated co2. Check out my tankless water heater thread,,,

very true 10,000 PPM is what I was told will kill all pests in your sealed environment.

 

[BeaverHuntr]

So I called a few places and they said I need a ductless ac unit. I'm guessing this is what you guys were referring to with the "split unit." The compressor will go on the roof and cables will connect it to the unit within my space. The cost including installation will be around $5,000. Damn. Haha shit ain't cheap.

Mini Splits are what the are called. Yes they are the best way to get AC. I use the central AC in my home to cool my garden. Its in a spare bedroom and where I live a AC is a must have! You can use the dual hose AC units you will still lose some Co2 but not as much as a single duct portable AC.

 

[ShadesOfBlue]

Mini Splits are what the are called. Yes they are the best way to get AC. I use the central AC in my home to cool my garden. Its in a spare bedroom and where I live a AC is a must have! You can use the dual hose AC units you will still lose some Co2 but not as much as a single duct portable AC.

What is a dual hose? The guy i talked to at the AC place said i should be looking at ductless units.

 

[malignant]

if your using a hydro system w/out co2 you might be wasting your nutes...

 

[BeaverHuntr]

What is a dual hose? The guy i talked to at the AC place said i should be looking at ductless units.

Portable AC's made just for growing. A regular portable AC has a single hose that exhausts hot air out of the room or house you are trying to cool. Hydro Farm makes a dual exhaust AC that is built for growing. They run about 400-500 bucks ..You will still lose some co2 but not as much as a single hose portable AC..

 

[BeaverHuntr]

if your using a hydro system w/out co2 you might be wasting your nutes...

Not true, lots of people grow without C02 with great success and good yields. Co2 just helps increase resin production .

 

[legallyflying]

Not true, lots of people grow without C02 with great success and good yields. Co2 just helps increase resin production .

In my experience, co2 does NOTHING to increase resin production. In fact, it can be detrimental to resin production in the end of the cycle. Co2 has doubled the size of my buds, easily.

 

[BeaverHuntr]

In my experience, co2 does NOTHING to increase resin production. In fact, it can be detrimental to resin production in the end of the cycle. Co2 has doubled the size of my buds, easily.

I wont doubt you, you know more than me and I feel comfortable admitting that !

 

[guy incognito]

Bottles are great for small spaces, they produce no heat. Burners are definitely the way to go if you have a room. I've found that Natural Gas releases less humidity into the air VS Propane. I use an IPM (integrated pest management) system to control mites and CO2 is just one of the ways I control mites. The roaches will testify to the fact that co2 can kill, tend to find a lot of dead bugs after a night of enrichment. It's just a way for me to keep the amount of poison sprayed to a minimum.
Here's how my IPM goes:
Veg: alternate spraying of avid and floramite aprox every 30 days all the plants are treated with bannermaxx at this time too.

Flower: depending on mite population plants may get treated the day they are put into flower. After the first week of flower I use CO2 and azadiatrin to keep populations on check.

Recently we had some mites and now we're coming out on the tail end, total eradication takes about 3 weeks with my system.

As far as those pre-charged A/C's I would not recommend them unless you absolutely can not find a cool HVAC guy to set you up. And HVAC company will charge less for the unit and be able to troubleshoot it if there are any problems. Also if you live in a cool climate or plan on running the A/C in outside ambient below 50F, be sure to purchase an "ambient air" unit so you don't fry your compressor and get freezing problems in the winter.

I think you have that backwards. Natural gas is made of mostly methane, CH4. Propane is C3H8. They both combine with ambient O2 to produce CO2 and H2O.

Natural gas:

CH4 + 2 O2 = CO2 + 2 H2O

So every molecule of CO2 you produce produces 2 molecules of H2O

Propane:

C3H8 + 5 O2 = 3 CO2 + 4 H2O

So every molecule of CO2 you produce you make 4/3 of a molecule of H2O

Natural gas combustion produces more H2O per unit of CO2 than propane does.

 

[NewGrowth]

So 100,000 BTU worth of propane with the BTU measurement being
taken before condensation produces 8.21 pounds of water. If the
water is allowed to condense before measuring the BTU, you only
get 7.53 pounds of water. You burn more natural gas for the same level of CO2 enrichment vs. Propane if you would like I can post all the equations that show molar weight, ect. So you are exactly right, thanks for the correction.


Likewise, 100,000 BTU pre-condensation BTU of methane produces 10.4
pounds of water, while that many post-condensation BTU produces
9.41 pounds of water.

 

[malignant]

Not true, lots of people grow without C02 with great success and good yields. Co2 just helps increase resin production .

after a certain point its not possible for the plants to uptake everything available without co2 enrichment. and it helps alot more than resin production, do some research, youll find it also drastically increases vegetation. co2 is awesome

 

[08GSXR600]

http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-CO2-Release-Kit.asp


im looking at using one of these.. thoughts?

 

[malignant]

yeah those are nice! just need a controller or a timer, set it up on a timer so it doses and your fans shut down for 15 min.. i love mine its killer in a 4x4 tent. just try to get two short bottles.. i had 2 shorties, traded for a k tank, and now its a bitch everytime i have to switch it out.. would love to go back to two short bottles in the back of the car rather than friends and a pickup

 

[tommyo3000]

So I called a few places and they said I need a ductless ac unit. I'm guessing this is what you guys were referring to with the "split unit." The compressor will go on the roof and cables will connect it to the unit within my space. The cost including installation will be around $5,000. Damn. Haha shit ain't cheap.

kingersons.com for ductless split a/c

if you live in an area where it gets COLD out, you need an a/c with "low ambient" operation -- meaning it works when the ambient temps are from 60 down to the 30s.

You can get a pre-chared freon line for most of these so that you can do the install yourself.
3,500btus per uncooled 1000watt light is what you want

 

[legallyflying]

bumping this based on a recent mail message asking q's about co2.

 

[legallyflying]

Bump for 420foreman

 

[statgreen]

Replying so I can find the post. Thanks legallyflying.

 

[guy incognito]

Replying so I can find the post. Thanks legallyflying.

At the top of this thread you can click on "thread tools" -> "subscribe to this thread"

Then when you click on "my rollitup" at the very top right it will bring up all the subscribed threads with new posts. If it doesn't have a new post you can click on the button that says "view all subscribed threads" and it will show all threads you have subscribed too.

Great way to keep track of important threads you haven't been able to read entirely or for ones you just want to keep for future reference.

 

[DukeOfDenver]

What I am doing until I can get a better setup is a vinegar / baking soda fast reactor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxKXiB25Wvc After my lights have been on for over an hour I attach the hose to a oscillating fan, shut off my exhaust and intake fans to heat the tent then zip er up. I use about 7 large baking soda charges and wait about a half an hour before I turn back on my exhaust/intake system. I can see the tent sides growing out while I blast. I do this once a day (yes a shit load of work). Hopefully I'm not a dumb ass and this will be good enough for now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[elcompadre]

I've seen random replies/opinions, about turning fans off when running co2. My question is when running a burner, is it recommended to turn wall-mount fans off, as well as carbon filter/inline fan? (carbon filter just has inline fan on top of it blowing at the ceiling no ducting)

100% sealed room... no environment controller. So fans, ac, lights, carbon filter/inline, all are plugged into individual sockets and timers... which would make it pretty tedious to turn fans off.

or is it chill to just have the burner set up doing its thing turning on and off, while the rest of the room still operates.