CO2 Generators

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pcduck

Feed the soil, not the plant
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Well I have decided to take advantage of the added lumens in my grow tent. I have 2 six hundreds in a DRII 120 and began looking into CO2 generators. I have a tank system I scrounged up, just waiting on the monitor/controller to show up. But I began thinking of an easier ways and more cost effective ways instead of exchanging/refilling my CO2 tank.

While doing research it did not take long before I started thinking.

What is the difference between a water-cooled CO2 generator such as a HydroGen MiniGen Water Cooled CO2 Generator and an On Demand Hot Water Heater for example a Marley Tankless Heater?

Links to both:

HydroGen: hXXp://www.hydroinnovations.com/product-details.php?pro=3

Marley: hXXp://marey.com/productDetailsi.asp?productID=9

They both seem the same to me:confused2:

Except for the price and the Marley has a higher btu/hr burner.

Do not know if the heat exchangers are similar or not.

Does anyone know or have experience in this?
 
Best of luck with this Duck....I know absolutely nothing about the subject...

take care and be safe

:48:
 
The CO2 generator you linked is not a mini gen, its a hydrogen pro.

Ive seen both up close and the hydrogen pro is much bigger than a mini gen.
Also the Hydrogen pro or the water heater will need to have water going to it as well, wont run without it but the Mini Gen will.
 
My bad Growdude:(

Will the water heater produce CO2 effectively like the mini gen or hydrogen Pro?
 
pcduck said:
My bad Growdude:(

Will the water heater produce CO2 effectively like the mini gen or hydrogen Pro?

Sure, its all about BTU's
But I didnt like the idea of haveing to have water come on with the hydrogen or water heater and you can use the Mini gen without water.
 
Growdude said:
Sure, its all about BTU's
But I didnt like the idea of haveing to have water come on with the hydrogen or water heater and you can use the Mini gen without water.

Yeah I was looking into it as products geared towards horticulture seemed to be way higher priced at times then a comparable product for a different use.

I have a tank but was looking for an easier and less expensive way of getting CO2 then having to refill. Seen some On Demand water heaters for just over a $100 and thought that they were basically doing the same thing as a Hydrogen Pro which is much more money.

I was researching water cooled because of the heat issues I have read about with the non-water cooled generators.

Just sitting here bonging and thinking:)
 
i made my own co2 with a 5 gallon bucket yeast sugar.hooked up a bubbler from my fish tank to it.and ran an air line to the top of my plants.hooked that up to a 18inch air stone.had everything on timers so the fans turned off and the bubbler turned on.the bubbler caused pressure to build up in the bucket.and pushed the co2 thru the line and fell on the plants.it worked really good my plants loved it.i used 2 pack yeast 5lb sugar 5gall water.it will last you oh say few weeks.attatch the bubbler air line to the bottom of the bucket.and the airstone line on the top of bucket.what happens is the bubbler line mixes up the co2 causes pressure,andpushes the air out the top.make sure everything is air tight,i had timers set to go on every few hours.run for 30 mins shut down.then fans whould come on 20 mins after.it takes some tweaking to get timeing right.but well worth it.or you can just breath on them.cause us humans release c02 when we breathe lol.i have heard that c02 fire extinguishers work to.every so often give the room a blast.i myself has never done that
 
@ sgtsmoke. Great idea. One quick ?

Did you see a discernable difference between co2 and no co2 as far as yields?
 
not really much as yields.the plants really like the co2.you can see the difference in a few days.they get really green and grow much faster with the co2.when if flowering the buds look awsome.my room is 4'x4'x8'.and the setup i did worked great.you will have to figure out your square feet.to know how long to run everything.make sure room is aired out well b4 going in.it took me a while to figure out how much yeast and sugar.i may have pictures on here from a while back as to what it looked like,let me se if i can find them
 
What other solutions are there? I saw some pre-packed things that you can buy and have to replace every so often.. how do those compare to co2 from bottle and from your method SGTSmoke?
 
well i cant find the pics of my setup bummer.not really sure of the difference cause i have only used my homemade setup.it cost me like 25 bucks to make it.compared to hundreds for the real stuff.there definitly was a difference when i used the homemade setup.just one thing,i changed my water yeast and sugar every few weeks.make sure u do it outside cause it smells awful.and its pretty gross
 
I'm surely curious about what you're saying SGT. I'm gearing up to do my first grow right now, and CO2 was a question I had. I believe my solution was these pre-produced boxes of stuff that wears off. (I don't know hah)

There's no way I can afford the CO2 container etc.
 
I do believe that adding any CO2 is helpful, but you will not see the true benefits unless you are able to control the level/amount. Your grow must also be dialed in and air tight. I would not waste my time with homemade methods using dry ice, yeast and sugar or the CO2 bags
 
i don't see any downside to the hydrogen pro, other then the initial cost.
 
So no CO2 is better / just as good as CO2 bags?

Alright, I guess just one less thing to worry about. Just want to allow my first grow to yield something decent.
 
I would not use CO2 for a first grow.

Things happen fast with CO2, good and bad. If not prepared could be detrimental.
 
EllisD said:
So no CO2 is better / just as good as CO2 bags?

Alright, I guess just one less thing to worry about. Just want to allow my first grow to yield something decent.

Well, you cannot grow with "no CO2". However, if you have a good ventilation system set up with good air exchange, your plants will get enough CO2 through normal air exchange. This is one of the reasons that we stress the importance of good air exchange.

What duck was talking about is enhanced CO2. For this you need controllers, monitors, enhanced lumens (more light), an airtight space, coordinated exhaust, etc, etc. CO2 enhancement needs to be monitored and controlled, so using things like those buckets, bags, dry ice, vinegar and baking soda, etc, etc is really a waste of time energy, and money as there is no way to regulate it.
 
Understood, thank you very much for clarifying.

(As you can tell, I'm very active here and going nowhere. I just want to do as best possible on first grow, while understanding and accepting that I'm going to make mistakes along the way.)
 

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