Is this a worthwhile co2 system for a HomeBox XL?

[saeon-tsion]

Check this out; it's from the same place I am planning to get my high-output aquarium air pump to enhance/speed up my HerbalAire w/bag system:

http://www.dtpetsupplies.com/catalog/Co2-Equipment/CO2-Systems/Red-Sea-The-Turbo-CO2-Bio-System/

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this as soon as possible, because I need to submit my order to them post-haste; the air pump will be an important part of my biggest & best article for Issue #10, and I'm thinking of writing a short article about the use of this CO2 system if it turns out to be useful at all -- especially given the lack of need for tanks, natural source, and relatively modest cost.

Thanks everyone!

[PharmaPharmer]

Nope. Those produce a very small amount of CO2, nowhere near what pot needs. Plus keep in mind that a homebox is far from air tight.

[Quixotic]

I have to agree that those do not produce enough co2. Here is a link to an alternative that I personally would try IF I was growing in a HomeBox XL.


http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=ACO2EF&eq=&Tp= well the link seems to go to the main page....

If you go to Atmosphere -> CO2 Enrichment-> and look for "Excellofizz CO2 Kit" you should be able to find it.



They are not priced too bad, they last 8 hours each and treat a 10' x 12' (120 sqft) area, increasing the CO2 levels by approximately 1600ppm. So for the HomeBox XL 4' x4' (16 sq ft) area, I would buy the pucks and then use a band saw to CAREFULLY cut the pucks into quarters (4 pieces). Each piece should raise the CO2 significantly enough in the HomeBOX XL to make a difference. That is of course my belief, and why I would try them.

The main issue would be if your HomeBox has heat issues that require you vent it regularly. In my hypothetical set up I would run a cool tube vented independent of the grow chamber enviroment and drop the puck each day 1hr after the lights came on. I would set the chamber venting on a thermostatic control to only run when absolutly nessicary, other wise I would vent the chamber for the last hour of light and a half hour into the dark cycle to freshen the chamber daily after the CO2 benifits have occured.


While Pharma is correct about the airtight issue I do think that with proper circulation from fans in the chamber you would get benifits from using these that would justify the small cost.

Hope the info helps someone.

Peace

-Q


ps I think there is great potential for the Autoflowering strain growers to benifit from these also, just drop a piece of puck twice a day and vent for an hour between each drop.

[saeon-tsion]

Hmmm. I do have to ventilate my HB-XL rather intensely, since it has dual Hortilux HPSes inside: a 400 and a 600. Both are open, standard style reflectors.

The HomeBox has a small circulation fan installed along with an internal carbon filter and 465CFM centrifugal blower running at about 2/3 power (using a dimmer-switch dial) most of the time. I don't measure temps, but they seem fairly reasonable. I could probably back the ventilation off somewhat, but I'm not sure at what point exactly it would be a waste of time/money/effort to use these pucks in there.....

[saeon-tsion]

Thanks for helping me rule out that simple aquarium co2 bubbler system. Now I can go ahead and buy the high-output air pump on its own without futher delay.

[salmayo]

That aquarium unit is about the size a soda bottle and works using yeast and sugar water to produce CO2 and is way to small for cultivation purposes.

Many Home Brewers, such as myself, use the ample supply of CO2 generated by fermenting Beer, Wine and Meads, to enhance the CO2 levels in our gardens. Many of the "Organic CO2" systems are just an addaptation of this method using cheap bakers yeast from the supermarket and sugar water to produce CO2 in a container with an outlet line to a grow area.

After playing with Oxygenated Plant Teas for awhile, I adapted the Beer bubbles method to the Plant Tea method to better utilized the CO2 produced in the production of the Plant Tea.

Basically the method takes advantage of the higher metabalism rates of the Oxygenated Plant Tea system and combines it with the sealed fermentor/composter systems used in brewing.

The set up uses a (5 gallon) bucket and lid, plant tea ingredients (or just yeast and sugar water), an outlet hose, an aquarium pump and an airstone. I would also recommend a catch bucket with HO (peroxide) in it to catch any blow off (yeasty mess) and to help neutralize any sweet bug attacting ordors from the culture fumes. Also cheap bakers yeast can give off nasty odors and I would recommend brewers or champagne yeast instead.

If you just want to use the simplest bucket version of this, then (just as with the Excellofizz CO2 Kit) only use a little of the volume of the bucket for the yeast sugar water mix with the lid resting on top to prevent spray from the bubbles from making a mess and the rest of the volume in the bucket is used for containing this spray and yeasty foamy mess.

A good example of this system would be a Beer fermentor with an airstone in it to keep the oxygen levels up, which prevents alcohol production, but increases CO2 production.

The nice thing about this method is that if you fuel it with Plant Tea ingredients, then you not only get the CO2 production to increase your growth rate, but you also get Oxygenated Plant Tea as an organic fertilizer or foliar spray.

Their are many Oxygenated Plant Tea recipes and they should all work fine in this type of compostor/generator.