CO2 enrichment earlier in life

[IamStoned]

I have been researching how to enrich my room with more co2. In my flower room I have 4 x 1000W and I am not running cool tubes. My air comes from outside to cool the room. As it stands I can't find a way to keep the heat down without using more power for things like airconditioning.

My new train of thought is... what if I do the co2 enrichment in my veg. room. I am only running fluros in there so the heat isn't an issue.

My questions are... What kind of enhanced growth can I expect during the first two months? And, will the plants suffer/shock if they have high co2 levels with they are younger, and then normal atmosphere co2 levels when they flower.

Thanks

[DNRDustin]

first: regardless of age, plants need Co2 to grow. i believe atmosphere levels are around 300ppm. go below 200ppm and youre plants photosynthesis will stop. and above 1800ppm is toxic i think so dont go above 1500ppm to be safe. between 1000ppm and 1400ppm you can (theoretically) see a 200% increase in growth. so... think of it this way. all you're life you've had as much food as you needed, you were allways fit active and healthy. then in your sexual prime you had zero food or excersise. you've really let yourself go! how well do you think you'd perform?lol

second: buy your self some closed hoods with vent holes. a closed curcuit system is key when adding Co2(which will also allow youre plants to grow in temps well into the high 90's). it gets HOT where i live! i bud under 4000w's and dont even need to use my a/c during the summer if my lights are on at night. and my 890ish cfm fan uses less than 2 amps on 110. so way cheaper than a 10 or 11 amp air conditioner. for reference, i think 1000w's is like 7.5 amps.
hope this was helpfull, or at least informative.

oh....p.s..... if youre gonna use a Co2 emmiter(not those bio-buckets) make sure you have climate controls that know to shut it off if your exhausting your room!

[d0rk2dafullest]

fuzz logic, ppm-2a, should get one

[Aequitas_7]

Unless you've got a lot going on, you're not going to see massive benefits from Co2 in your veg stage. If it's an option between one or the other, defiantly, defiantly run it during bloom. 1000 to 1500 ppm is ideal. If your room is built under ideal conditions, i.e., no leaks, no exhausting your precious Co2, proper temperatures, etc., etc., you can expect to see about a 20% increase in yield.
With Co2, you can perhaps push your temperature up to 85 tops and still get optimal uptake. If you're running a filter for exhaust, I'd suggest mounting it near the top, as your Co2 will be heavier than the rest of the air. If using as a scrubber, then perhaps leave the filter on the floor and connect the fan to the top of the room via ducting, this will continually redistribute the Co2 to the top of the room, where it will have more effect than just sitting on the bottom. Also, there is no need to run it when your lights are off, they won't be able to absorb enough of it.
Are you air cooling your lights? If not, then do so. That will keep the temperature down without exhausting enriched air.

[Chickenhead7]

[QUOTE=DNRDustin;32706] above 1800ppm is toxic i think so dont go above 1500ppm to be safe[QUOTE]

There was an article in High Times about a grower who bumps his Co2 levels to 2300ppms and his nugs come out like bowling balls....dont know if there is a toxic level with Co2 for plants, I know there is for us obviously, but not sure about them....

I agree with DNR about the hoods tho, the best way to keep temperatures down is to used closed reflectors and vent the hot air out of the room. The best way out of all is to take cold air from another room, run it through the lights, and then spit it back out an exhaust, with the air going through the lights having never touched the air inside the room...

[DNRDustin]

2300 huh? damn! haha you probably wouldnt be able to be in your room for very long.

[Chickenhead7]

2300 huh? damn! haha you probably wouldnt be able to be in your room for very long.

Haha seriously you would like start asphyxiating as you step through the door

[d0rk2dafullest]

i kinda feel like that in my warm room, 4x1000 w with ac and air kings.

[Chickenhead7]

i kinda feel like that in my warm room, 4x1000 w with ac and air kings.

When it comes to making the best room possible, atmosphere control is more important than anything....to be completely honest I would use even 1000watts until you can control the temperature enough to always keep it below 85, preferably 80. No higher than 85 or your potency and your overall bud quality period will go down the toilet.

On top of this, once you have the temperature kept below 80, you can slowly start to add Co2 at low levels and see how much it brings your average temp up in a 24 hour time spand. If the temps ever go over 85, or if your average temperature for the entire day (temps when lights are on and temps when lights are off combined, divided by the number of measurements you took) ever goes above 75-80 then you shouldnt be using Co2 at all until you can get the temps lower, which would mean having an even lower room temp when your not using Co2.

For instance I would want my room to be around 75-80 degrees (no higher) before I would add Co2. That gives me about a 5-10 degree cushion before my temps go over 85 in which I case I would have to cut back on the Co2.

Temperature will always go up when you use Co2, so you have to give your atmosphere some leeway before you put any more in there.

One more thing. If you ever did set up a room that had atmosphere controls, to where exhaust fans would turn on if the temps got too high. You would only want to use an amount of Co2 that would keep the temps below the temperature at which your exhaust turns on. If every time your Co2 turns on and it is at a high release setting and the temperatures skyrocket right off the bat, the exhaust fans will come on and just empty the room of all the Co2 you just put in...which would make it a pointless cycle.

So basically its best to only put an amount of Co2 that will keep your temps below 85, and like I said before preferably 80.

[johnnyballbag]

Yo IamStoned, how's it going buddy? Wanted to clear some stuff up here for ya...

First off, adding co2 only during veg will not increase your yield. What it WILL do is increase your rate of growth. So when talking about what co2 will do for the veg stage, all it'll really do is cut down the amount of time it takes to reach a certain size. So unless you have a need to veg really fast, i would stick with enriching your flowering area first.

And someone here mentioned that co2 will always increase your temps. This might be true if you're using a co2 generator, but if you're using bottled co2 from a tank than that's simply not the case. Only reason why your room temp would increase while using bottled co2 would be if your climate controller turns off your exhaust fan while the co2 is in the room.

Using co2 is VERY dependent upon your climate, if your parameters aren't on point then your plants would be able to fully utilize the gas. And some things to keep in mind about using co2; your humidity will probably rise due to a higher transpiration rate. So make sure you're able to keep that in check. And your plants WILL drink/eat faster if you're using the co2 correctly and have your room dialed in. So make sure your method of feeding is able to keep up with the increased rate of growth.

Hope this helps.