Indoor Carbon Dioxide Systems

[snowryderguy]

Recently Ive been checking out CO2 systems for plants. I seem to be only coming across expensive systems that are not really designed for small grows.

As I am strapped of cash I made my self a homemade CO2 system which literally cost me in the region of £5 for everything. It use's about £2 worth of ingredients a week so its pretty cost effective for someone who is a new indoor grower like me.

Basically I went the local store and bought a few sachets of active yeast, sugar and air tubing (the tubing used for fish tanks ect). The yeast must be active/alive so it will ferment along with the sugar to produce CO2. It says on the packets so just check if you want to give this idea a go.

I got 2x 2L plastic bottles, rapped them in tin foil and some insulation. I then made a mixture of yeast and sugar along with luke warm water in a jug and tipped them into the bottles. I made a small hole in the cap of the bottle for the air tubing and sealed this to make sure it was air tight and did the same to the other bottle. These 2 tubes where placed into a 1l container via a small hole in the wall of the bottle. This is so as the solution brews any over flowing liquid will go into the empty bottle and not onto the plants. The bottle which is empty has a tube coming out the lid and goes right next to a circulating fan. This is to allow even distribution of CO2 around the plants to help them grow.

Ive noticed it makes alot of CO2! This is the same method how companies or hobby alcohol makers brew there stuff

 

[BuddyLove]

i think you may find that it's not really going to be enough for you to notice that you use it, or if you don't. i know alot of growers will swear by the co2 benefits. as far as what i've seen, as was said here unless you are a large commercial setup, and can run maximum temperatures in your grow room, say in the 85F range while your giving the co2, you just won't get any noticeable improvements. best of luck with your grows.

 

[snowryderguy]

Yer ive noticed that too, for very good results all your factors have to be good. For example to get better growth you need good light, good CO2, good humidity, good nutrients, soil ect. They all interact with each other. After this grow I should have a better place to start them. ATM my options arnt that great, so when i move i should be able to do a decent setup to hopefully grow some very nice plants. As ive said the conditions have to be good, but there is no harm on having a little system go because all it will do is benefit the plants so why not

 

[snowryderguy]

Cheers Thai Buddha Man

 

[Eschatos]

Yeast in warm water with sugar does produce CO2 indeed, but it also produces alcohol. Does that not harm your plants? In a similar technique I had in mind you add water to the small bottle and filter the fumes from the yeast and sugar containers to trap the alcohol, and only give CO2 to your plants. I could be wrong but maybe this is important.

 

[snowryderguy]

Thats what I do Eschatos, the tubes do reach into the water in the bottle to filter any possible alcohol and yeast that could come from the bottes just to make sure they do not reach the plants. I did have 5 Snowryders but now I have 4 because I didn't have the third bottle to filter any overflows. One of the plants got covered in sticky yeast, sugar and alcohol. I managed to get the stuff off that was visible but the plants weltered and died 2 days later. It could have been the alcohol, yeast or sugar possibly, I do know that sugar is a drying agent so it could of started one of my plants. Ive been using the third bottle now and I have had no more problems, btw I used to have the tubes directly over the plants but now there next to some small fans to distribute it around the grow box evenly.

 

[Eschatos]

Oh ok, that makes it clear man. I think I will do this CO2 thing to my plants as well :howdy: Good stuff

 

[peez]

Bit of an old thread but was researching co2 and came across these - http://www.exhaleco2bags.com/ anyone tried or know if these are any good?

 

[Chester]

Bit of an old thread but was researching co2 and came across these - http://www.exhaleco2bags.com/ anyone tried or know if these are any good?

Thanks for the Link ... Looks like about $32 w/ shipping on Ebay .... I may need to try one of these ...

eta ... reviews don't sound too positive ...