Newbie with questions about CO2, venting, others

[CandiE]

Newbie here. I am in the process of setting up my first hydro grow. The space I have is 10'x10' and 9' high. I currently have 8-Root Spa 5gal buckets that have a air pump that blows air into the bottom of the buckets. My grow media is hydrocorn in 10" net basket, I'm using tap water around 7.5ph and 200ppm(plan on RO in future). I have Advance Nutrients Sensi grow A and B only right now and PH up and down also. Lighting is 2 1000w HPS. I also have a 20lb co2 tank with a titan co2 regulator.

My first question is I currently have a can filter that I have ducted into the 2 lights for temp help. I am at the point of venting the duct out, but I read that if I'm sucking all the air out of the room then I'm wasting the co2. So what do I do? Do I vent the hot air back in and get a AC unit for the heat or do I turn the fan off while I'm using co2?

With the info I provided about my grow. Is this a good start? What do you guys think I can add or do to help. Also I do plan on adding another 8 buckets and 2 more 1000w lights in the grow area after first harvest, hopefully.

Thanks for all the help, I love this forum. I have been researching a lot for the past months and I think I'm ready to try it.

CandiE

 

[GCYODA]

in order for co2 to be beneficial your environment has to be perfect, lots of lumens.
I would say as newbie you should get everything going for a while before you attempt co2. we all take our bumps on the head when we start, no sense in wasting all that c02 in the process. good luck buddy, welcome to your new favorite hobby

use that money to get your filter now that ppm of your water will cause allot of trouble for you. imho

 

[G00ch]

candie, the way i have my system setup is this. I have 2 sealed lights one light is attached to the vent to pull fresh air through the lights, they are then connected together with duct, and the output goes into the fan and out of the room, this way you dont even need your filter because you are just pulling fresh air to cool the lights. I suggest experimenting with co2 on your own everyone has their own opinions and most are negative because they might not have understood how to use it properly. I use exhale bags with great success.

 

[G00ch]

I am a student of the RAW spoon feeding method of growing. you can follow a link in my signature for more info but the basics are 1/2 strength base nutrients, and supplement with what the plant needs when it needs it, the RAW ingredients are not expensive between 10-20 per pack. I recommend OmniA(amino acids), that will take all the minerals in your tap water and get them into your plant, Kelp helps with root growth, phosphorus used in the beginning of veg and flower, potassium used in late flower for quailty, thick potent nugs

 

[OlderGrower]

The only way to effectively and efficiently use CO2 that I am familiar with is a sealed room set up. Like G00ch mentioned the air used for cooling the lights comes from outside the grow area, through the lights and back out of the grow area, so the only thing leaving the vent is warm air no odor unless your lights leak really bad. As I understand a sealed room set up, the temp/RH% is controlled by using AC and humidifiers and dehumidifiers, though the AC will pull moisture out of the air depending on your set up. I would suggest you research that type of set up if your going to run CO2.

 

[Papageno]

CO2 is not something that should be attempted until you have nailed the growing process and get consistent premo top grade stuff. CO2 just makes more but doesn't improve quality. Get it right first. Then you may be prepared to handle the extra fast growth if you don't fail at setting up the system correctly..

Most people set it up wrong and attribute the improved product to CO2 not the things they didn't screw up this time. And that will give you enough time to research this properly.

 

[G00ch]

well i am not exactly onboard with using only after everything else is perfect, i believe any additional co2 can only benefit the plant, you can see a significant increase with just 800ppm, now that is not exactly the 1200-1500 that is recommended. But i say as long as you are not spending hundreds on equipment, then its no harm no foul and it is definitely beneficial. I spent $20 on an exhale bag and i believe it helped my plants the entire time so i will be using it again and likely more of them

 

[Papageno]

Agreed...no harm no foul if you do it the no harm way and not spending a ton on your first grow. And a perfect grow is not necessary but understanding what the difference is may be difficult if you are inconsistent... you need to be consistent before you will accurately asses your own performance in this endeavor.

I tend to write this stuff for newbs and home growers. Honestly if you are doing this pro style maybe you should know this stuff already and probably I shouldn't be helping you.

I know I grow in a 5x5 to help keep me legal

In that size of a tent I have the exhaust on so high that no amount of CO2 enrichment could matter. The air evacuation is so high. I think most people here are in a similar situation with small tents and cabinets. The external exchange tent I would need to do it right would be bigger than my grow tent. I might as well just have two grow tents and run perpetual then for a fraction of the long term cost.

But you are correct 100%.