First grow - Co2 helping or hurting?

[NSUCK]

Hey all, been browsing the forums for the past few months. Got my first grow underway with me and a good friend.

We have a semi sealed room, about 14x20 doing somewhat large SOG, 140 of em with 5x1000. 2 medium filters with 2 8inch fans for exhaust and 2 ac vents from the house ac in the room.

We just added co2, no monitor or anything were not quite sure if we wanna go that far or trust our crop to something that could spill the entire bottle. We have the equation down and have been dumping by hand. Our room hangs out at around 72-78 degrees and 25-35% RH. When we dump the co2 and shut the fans off for the hour or so before we vent it spikes to 85 degrees and 60-70% RH. I've been hearing different opinions from different people about it.

Are we doing more harm than good by constantly changing the temp and RH of the room? I've been told its good to have higher temps when the co2 is active and I've also been told having them go from one temp to another often is bad.

As of now I feel we can leave it this way and go buy a dehumidifier to keep the RH down and let the temp stay up when we do the co2 but as I said its our first grow. We know quite a bit from family and friends that have done their own but not many have done co2 yet.

edit- they were just flipped over to 12/12 a few days ago and are anywhere from 1 1/2 ft to 4 ft tall right now. 3 diff strands, bubba kush, purple diesel, and green krack. Also using all Canna nutes.

Any comments are appreciated, thanks.

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

First grow with 5X1000W?

I'd get the basics dialled in before wasting money on CO2 - You've got so many variables going on, you'll have no idea as to whether the additional carbon dioxide helped or not.

I wish you all the best though!

 

[DevilWeed]

What he said. I've done a little CO2 research. From what I found, it's useless unless a) Everything else is DIALED! and b) It's administered in a consistent manner. Intermitent blasts of CO2 aren't going to be worth it IMHO.

 

[NSUCK]

First grow with 5X1000W?

I'd get the basics dialled in before wasting money on CO2 - You've got so many variables going on, you'll have no idea as to whether the additional carbon dioxide helped or not.

I wish you all the best though!

ya we've got most things down tho, my roommates dad is here a lot and hes done many grows. Their cousins come by a lot as well and they have a LOT under their belts too. From all who have seen everything is great so far. More looking to know if the temp and RH I was talking about are a negative or positive at this point.

thanks

 

[Cannarado]

ya we've got most things down tho, my roommates dad is here a lot and hes done many grows. Their cousins come by a lot as well and they have a LOT under their belts too. From all who have seen everything is great so far. More looking to know if the temp and RH I was talking about are a negative or positive at this point.

thanks

You're far from dialed - and you even said so. "constantly changing the temp and RH of the room"

What exactly is "Semi-Sealed"? I know of active air, and sealed room. One benefits from CO2, one does not.

A person being present at a grow, or the fact that they have grows under their belt doesnt count as a "Dialed Grow". Even if they had a dialed room, the second you take it down or change something you now have to re-dial the room because conditions have changed.

Dialed is your hitting all PPM marks (if even measuring PPM/PH), all your environment controls are at a maximum. Temps, Humidity, PH, and light distribution should be constant. Your gauges should all be legit proven meters - No cheap temp/humidity stuff cause you'll be hurting more then helping for sure at that point.

"We have the equation down and have been dumping by hand." What equation is this?! Cause if you're able to tell me just how much your plants are using and at what intervals to apply it to maintain the maximum 1600ppm - your Dr. Greenthumb for sure. Fuzzy Logics are $600+ for a reason... even the lower end CO2 regulation... without PPM measurement, costs around $200. Its not the end of the world to not use a Fuzzy logic or equivalent - you can take a less precise method and pull it off... but again not unless your dialed.

If you dont want to shell out for a Fuzzy, you can put a bit of work in and do a good guesstimate to keep 1200-1600ppm. A simple Regulator and Solenoid with a few cheap CO2 test kits can create a "Improved" environment. I would with that however recommend a very precise digital timer. Less is more when talking about CO2 and such

I dont mean to sound rude but im sure i do. Dont take it personally.

If you're not a sealed room - your practically dumping your money out the window. And if you cant control temps, humidity, PH, ect and your not already pulling massive harvests - tossing CO2 into the mix isnt helping your cause. When using CO2, you want you're conditions to differ from those in a fresh air environment, and dialed in to near perfection.

 

[NSUCK]

You're far from dialed - and you even said so. "constantly changing the temp and RH of the room"

What exactly is "Semi-Sealed"? I know of active air, and sealed room. One benefits from CO2, one does not.

A person being present at a grow, or the fact that they have grows under their belt doesnt count as a "Dialed Grow". Even if they had a dialed room, the second you take it down or change something you now have to re-dial the room because conditions have changed.

Dialed is your hitting all PPM marks (if even measuring PPM/PH), all your environment controls are at a maximum. Temps, Humidity, PH, and light distribution should be constant. Your gauges should all be legit proven meters - No cheap temp/humidity stuff cause you'll be hurting more then helping for sure at that point.

"We have the equation down and have been dumping by hand." What equation is this?! Cause if you're able to tell me just how much your plants are using and at what intervals to apply it to maintain the maximum 1600ppm - your Dr. Greenthumb for sure. Fuzzy Logics are $600+ for a reason... even the lower end CO2 regulation... without PPM measurement, costs around $200. Its not the end of the world to not use a Fuzzy logic or equivalent - you can take a less precise method and pull it off... but again not unless your dialed.

If you dont want to shell out for a Fuzzy, you can put a bit of work in and do a good guesstimate to keep 1200-1600ppm. A simple Regulator and Solenoid with a few cheap CO2 test kits can create a "Improved" environment. I would with that however recommend a very precise digital timer. Less is more when talking about CO2 and such

I dont mean to sound rude but im sure i do. Dont take it personally.

If you're not a sealed room - your practically dumping your money out the window. And if you cant control temps, humidity, PH, ect and your not already pulling massive harvests - tossing CO2 into the mix isnt helping your cause. When using CO2, you want you're conditions to differ from those in a fresh air environment, and dialed in to near perfection.

by semi sealed I mean its a giant room add on to a house, the only places in and out for air are the 2 giant filters on the floor with a stack straight out the roof, which get turned off. and the 2 ac vents towards the ceiling at the high point of the room, which are also off during co2. Other than that we have all holes foamed and ran caulking around the entire room.

The regulator that we bought came with instructions for how to get a rough estimate for how much co2 your room needs by how large the room is and how fast you are dumping co2 using the regulator. Right now we did the calculations aiming for 1300ppm, figured its better to go too low than too high.

As for the temps and RH that was my question, I've been told its good to spike temps when you are dumping co2 into the room because it raises the plants absorption for it, I don't know this for sure tho so I was trying to hear other opinions. As for the RH I'm going to go buy a nice sized dehumidifier.

I have the money to buy a PPM monitor I just wasn't 100% confident about having something on a digital timer control the co2, if something goes wrong isn't it possible the whole bottle drains into the room?

I don't take anything personally thats why I'm asking here I'll try to snag some pics tonight when the lights kick on.

 

[Frozenguy]

Get rid of the CO2. I've used CO2 enrichment before for years.

Even when I set up a new grow, I didn't use CO2 the first time around.

CO2 puts you in a different ball game.

And CO2 without a monitor is not going to work. Its hard enough to keep CO2 levels consistent in a 100% sealed room.
It takes plants time to adjust to the new CO2 levels so if it fluctuates, the plants are constantly adjusting themselves to fit the new CO2 level.

So no monitor and no efficient delivery system = pointless CO2 injection.

Back to dialing it in first, all your limits are raised. So grow first, figure out your nute levels, your temp levels, your lighting levels, and then when you've figured that all out, and done well, then add CO2. THEN increase your light levels, your nutes and temperature and RE DIAL your grow in.


Turn the CO2 off, you're wasting CO2 and confusing your plants in the meantime.


Sounds like an awesome start though. Keep the CO2 around (obviously) as it will (in time) become EXTREMELY useful and beneficial.

 

[NSUCK]

Alright after reading here and further discussion were going to wait till at least next time when we have a monitor to do co2. Here are some pics of what we got going on right now

 

[Natagonnaworrie]

Get rid of the CO2. I've used CO2 enrichment before for years.

Even when I set up a new grow, I didn't use CO2 the first time around.

CO2 puts you in a different ball game.

And CO2 without a monitor is not going to work. Its hard enough to keep CO2 levels consistent in a 100% sealed room.
It takes plants time to adjust to the new CO2 levels so if it fluctuates, the plants are constantly adjusting themselves to fit the new CO2 level.

So no monitor and no efficient delivery system = pointless CO2 injection.

Back to dialing it in first, all your limits are raised. So grow first, figure out your nute levels, your temp levels, your lighting levels, and then when you've figured that all out, and done well, then add CO2. THEN increase your light levels, your nutes and temperature and RE DIAL your grow in.


Turn the CO2 off, you're wasting CO2 and confusing your plants in the meantime.


Sounds like an awesome start though. Keep the CO2 around (obviously) as it will (in time) become EXTREMELY useful and beneficial.

Exactly!!!!


i want to reinforce... No Monitor, No worky.

 

[Frozenguy]

That setup looks awesome man. I might just say that if its possible, straightening out that ventilation will up the efficiency dramatically. If you're not noticing any vent/temp problems then its moot, and disregard it. But if you need to squeeze some temps out of the room thats something that will help.

Looking great man, brings me back to good memories.

Is that Canna nutes? Really good stuff.

 

[NSUCK]

That setup looks awesome man. I might just say that if its possible, straightening out that ventilation will up the efficiency dramatically. If you're not noticing any vent/temp problems then its moot, and disregard it. But if you need to squeeze some temps out of the room thats something that will help.

Looking great man, brings me back to good memories.

Is that Canna nutes? Really good stuff.

to be honest there is quite a bit of air pressure coming out the end of the line, we just have all 5 in 1 after that T from the fan. We just have it venting right back into the room for the time being but it works fine were rocking 72-80 degrees consistently. We have a nice pump in that big barrel as well, have a hose line under the house to put fresh water into it then mix our Canna, you were right, nutes into it. We're at about 35% RH too.

Is there a good technique for taking pictures with the lights on w/o the odd coloration?

The last of these pics im putting up now shows the AC vent into the room, its on the opposite side of the room as the filters/fans there is another one in the other corner as well, the room is sealed pretty well with both filters on when we open the door it sucks itself out a good 2-3 inches immediately you can feel the pressure right away. We don't even need the use the house fan the filters draw air in through the vents from the ac and outside.

The pics I showed we just switched to 12/12 about 4 days ago I believe, the ones to the left are Purple Diesel, middle are Bubba Kush, and right are Green Crack.

 

[Cannarado]

Is there a good technique for taking pictures with the lights on w/o the odd coloration?

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=24296&highlight=photo+orange

You're welcome

 

[rashboy99]

awsome grow.... however I personnally think you all are insane for posting pics of you grow rooms.

 

[NSUCK]

awsome grow.... however I personnally think you all are insane for posting pics of you grow rooms.

I'm legal over here.

 

[Frozenguy]

awsome grow.... however I personnally think you all are insane for posting pics of you grow rooms.

What do you think could happen with a picture?

 

[Cannarado]

What do you think could happen with a picture?

Yea... the internet seems like a sketchy place... but with all the randomness and anonymity that it can provide - Catching growers on the intarwebz is like flying around with flir or watching for those electricity spikes! And why would you be worried about pictures... the word's you've said were plenty...

P.S. Legal is in the eyes of the beholder. If they want cha... they'll come and get cha no matter what. IDK how other countries do it but here they some Thugs up in the office...

 

[NSUCK]

Yea... the internet seems like a sketchy place... but with all the randomness and anonymity that it can provide - Catching growers on the intarwebz is like flying around with flir or watching for those electricity spikes! And why would you be worried about pictures... the word's you've said were plenty...

P.S. Legal is in the eyes of the beholder. If they want cha... they'll come and get cha no matter what. IDK how other countries do it but here they some Thugs up in the office...

Cali is another story compared to most places. I wouldn't be doing it if it weren't legal.

 

[Cannarado]

Cali is another story compared to most places. I wouldn't be doing it if it weren't legal.

Cali is in america... They still are under Federal Law. Federal Law states pot is illegal. There have only been 12 (if i remember correctly) people with TRUE federal medical mary cards.

While california is more lax and much further developed in the laws and such, Federal law overrides and they can slam the iron fist down if they wish.

I can also tell you about 2 people i know that got busted with med cards... and they werent to happy to say the least.

I think its stupid. A bunch of hoops to jump threw. I refuse to get mine because i know many who need it to live and i want nothing but for MMJ to work out for them. I HATE PHARMS.

 

[CherChezLaGhost]

NSUCK shit is looking great. Keep doing what you do. CO2 or not your gonna have a nice harvest. Good Karma dog