O2 and CO2

[PetFlora]

A lot of people swear by adding CO2, but what about O2?

I mean most indoor growing is an O2 starved environment, compared to the outdoors.

Soooooooooo, wouldn't it make sense to monitor the O2 and adjust to meet outdoor open-field levels?

 

[Ursus]

plants take c02 not o2, they expel oxygen so........ neezy

 

[Lazyman]

Ursus has it right, during the day (photosynthesis) plants uptake CO2, keep the C and release the O2 as exhaust. At night this process reverses a bit, with plants uptaking O2 and giving off CO2. I suppose you could supplement with O2 at night as an experiment, but I would do some digging and see if you can find some studies or research on nighttime O2 supplementation. My guess would be that plants don't need MUCH O2 at night, so adding more would be wasteful.

Also, O2 is expensive! And you would be entirely on your own for metering it out.

I've been in this game long enough to learn that experimentation is fun, expensive, and usually fruitless. I've very rarely deviated from the herd and got better results from the herd. In essence, do what everyone else does and your life will be easier. I know it sounds discouraging, but when lots of people use a system, it has lots of information and support that go with it. When you experiment, you are alone and there are few who can or will help you. Hope that helps!

 

[NiKEUS-]

perhaps additional o2 to roots expensive though, plus extra oxygen and electricity seem like a bad idea, i'm sure if there is a spark with extra oxygen levels there is more chance of a flame... could be wrong its been a few good years since school.

 

[!!!]

Infusing your res with oxygen would likely speed up growth significantly and certainly keep rot away, but oxygen is expensive and AFAIK requires a license (or Rx) to have. Also I'd be worried to come home to see my closet like this:

 

[Lazyman]

LOL, the town I used to live in used to have a small oxygen plant by the bay. They had a fire in the early seventies, and one of the 6' tall O2 tanks was found stuck in the wall of a pulp mill.

6 miles away.

 

[PetFlora]

I like the idea of O2 for the roots, but how? I have H2O2 on hand, but my root chamber is d2w. Maybe add a small container/bubbler to the res filled with 3% H2O2.

The Q is: can be on 24/7? Probably needs to go on a timer. Anybody?

 

[PetFlora]

NOW THIS IS INTERESTING

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=51943&highlight=aquatic+carbon+loading

 

[highonmt]

Ya we tried O2 in the bottom of soil pots and soiless pots but it didn't make a noticeable difference. It was also expensive so co2 only now.
HM