Great show guys, I’ve been neglecting my other podcasts because of you all. Not cool man, not cool. Anyhow, this is less of a question and more of a grow hack I just couldn’t figure out how to post one on the grow hack page.
I was listening to a show this evening on my way home from the shop and a guy was talking about making a co2 rig with yeast and stuff. I have a friend who runs a yeast bucket and it works fairly well but for just a few bucks more this one works better and it doesn’t smell.
It’s actually a co2 generator for fish tanks. Actually all it really is, is blue plastic manifold that you use in conjunction with a couple 2 ltr soda pop bottles. One is filled with baking soda and water the other gets citric acid and water. Every other day or so the bottles and all get shaken and you simply squeeze one bottle to give a mix of the two solutions, then wait for the pressure to get into the green and open the valve. The solution lasts about a week before it looses its efficacy and needs to be replaced. I added a solenoid switch/valve that I can run with an old timer that I had laying around. The zip tied the outlet hose to my oscillating fan can and BaBOOM CO2 enrichment! Anyhow, the whole set up complete with the soda and acid ran right at $60.
Don’t get me wrong, this set up has its limitations, I ran it in a 4×4 tent and it would hold the CO2 at right around 1000 ppm, but in my 4×8 it doesn’t do nearly as well hitting only about 600 ppm. Long story short, if your running a smaller set up this might be a viable option for you.
Last shot is of the tents current occupants, my son and daughter in law are in the middle of their first grow. The back two are Blueberry muffin and the front two are Strawberry Banana bag seed. Guys, guys, they’ve taken my happy place from me, I offered to help when needed and they’ve taken over. It’s all good though, they are killing it, there’ll be fresh flower I’m a couple weeks and I’m up to bat next run. Think I’ll do a seed run. Later.
Baking Soda $3
Manifold $26
Solenoid $17
Citric Acid $14
Pretty sweet hack! Great find for sure! I might have to experiment with that manifold…
Wow, this is really amazing! I’m not sure I fully understand it unfortunately but it looks like a really valuable thing to have for the small grower. Does the equipment come with good instructions?
Well that’s the thing with Chinese gear, the instructions can be adequate at times and sometimes iffy, luckily these aren’t bad but there are plenty of youtube vids that explain the recipe for the solutions and all.
Thank you Pa Kilter! 🙂 This looks like an excellent solution for our 2×4 tent.
MC
I suspect it will load a tent that size to the gills with co2
you can find the same thing for 20 bucks on Amazon. It works via air pressure. The way it works is Typically with 1 liter bottles, one side should have a pressure gauge measuring in Bar or PSi, 1 bar is basically 14.7 psi. A soda bottle from a large name brand like coke or pepsi can hold 95 psi before exploding. The bottle with gauge will have a tube connected to top of bottle but the tube needs to go to the bottom of the bottle. This bottle you fill with 600ml of water and 200 grams of citric acid. The tube will run into the other bottle and once inside the bottle will have a TEE on the end of tube. This bottle is filled with 200 ml of water to 200 grams of baking soda ( sodium bicarbonate) To start process you will squeeze citric acid bottle until liquid combines with other bottle, this causes a reaction with Co2 byproduct which builds pressure inside the bottle. Since the bottles are connected and the laws of physics states that high pressure will always flow to low pressure and the two bottles are connected, the air pressure will equalize between the bottles. Repeat this process until you reach desired pressure, typically between 1 and 2 bar or 15 to 30 psi. Crack the valve to feed your room and your off to the races. As the air is released into your room the air pressure inside the baking soda bottle with decrease causing the higher pressure inside the citric acid to equalize. Since the tube in the citric acid bottle is at the bottom, liquid is forced into baking soda bottle, this process causing another reaction and the process repeats itself until the reaction is done. The problem is that no matter what ratio you use for the reaction is will almost always be done before citric acid bottle is empty. If your room is not sealed off you will probably be making a new mixture daily. Getting baking soda to dissolve in water is like trying to get your kids to eat dinner. I will put up a co2 hack soon involving citric acid and baking soda but it will be like a bath bomb. I’m working on the ratios and slow release process now but I”m almost there. I was all excited about the bottle co2 generator when I got it but it doesn’t add enough to my non sealed 5×6 room kinda like Pa Kilter said. Here is what I’m working on if you guys want to experiment. So far I know you can mix 1 tablespoon citric acid with 2 tablespoons baking soda and 1 teaspoon 91%isopropyl alcohol and form a small puck. This puck sitting on a wet floatation device in a 5 gallon bucket with 1 gallon of water will cause a reaction for about 2 hours and increase co2 levels +- 150 ppm in my 5x6x5 non sealed grow room. post your results please I’m gathering all kind of information right now on all things grow related and putting together a chart/plan that will give a fairly accurate description of environment conditions and also take into consideration photosynthesis equation and the 9 grow factors.
You totally sold me. I have a 4 X 4 and have not been introducing any extra CO2 as I got really tired of using yeast and sugar. After seeing your grow hack, I found the manifold on ebay for $12 and bought the rest of the materials on Amazon. I’m excited to give this a try! Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing! I’m going to try this out. I have a 4×4 and have not wanted to make the investment in a canister system since my tent isn’t in a. Loses off room. This will be cool to test out a true CO2 delivery system.
hey another okie!!! great idea for smaller tents.. stepping up to a 20×15 this grow, had to buy a generator.. just much easier and less work.. but my tents are still rocking these… are you local to the tulsa area? looking to link up and network with other growers in the area..