cap co22 and co2 q's?

[NorCal]

hey there, just installed my cap co22 and co2 w/ regulator.
my room is as follows
3x5 area w 1000Whps and a 600wmh
they are both air cooled by two 4" fans, one on one end acting as an exhaust also and another on the other end acting sort of as a booster to help everything flow nicely.
I have a 6" exhaust and a 4" intake
my temps are normally around 79, when the co22 triggers it turns off my 3 fans and starts dispersing co2.

the problem is I dont know how long it takes for my small room to fill w/ co2 and for the plants to process it. I dont wanna overfill the area w/ co2 as this isnt good.

the co2 tank and everyhting is outside, I plumbed the tube through the intake so when it comes on it goes into the room via the 4" intake and goes straight into the canopy.

my main concern is that once my fans shut off my temps climb as the lights arent being aircoled anymore and this is really where all the heat build up comes from. then hte cap controller triggers itself to come on once the temps hit about 89.

the fans are also off during the dark period which I dont like as id rather have good ventilation 24/7

I was thinking in making another 4" hole to independently/separately cool those lights and then having those fans on a timer to turn em off when the lights are off as theres no problem w/ the heat if the lights arent on.

any input suggestions are greatly appreciated, thanx..

 

[MTF-Sandman]

Are you running a CO2 controller or just a solenoid on a timer? If you're running a solenoid/tank setup, do you have a way of measuring the PPM's?

 

[NorCal]

a controller, its the cap co2-2 and it will tell you when the co2 is running low in the room but no ppm meter yet....

 

[MTF-Sandman]

Ahhh...I should have clarified on my definition of a "controller". I was thinking of a IR sensor that monitors CO2 levels and turns on the solenoid when the levels are too low.

Your temps are fine in the upper 80's/low 90's...actually that's pretty sweet if the rest of your environment is keeping up with them.

To fill your area using 1 CFH, it would take around 8.5 minutes...but if you vent at all, you're going to need to recharge the CO2 levels after every venting. For mine, I charge the room when the lights come on and then replenish it every 2 hours...but that's a sealed room with AC & dehumidifier so it's going to keep the CO2 levels higher for a longer period of time.

If you're tight on funds, I would highly suggest getting a syringe based CO2 metering kit at the local hydro shop (around $20-$30)...if it's possible, definitely go with a PPM1-c type controller to do the actual PPM monitoring so that it can maintain the PPMs for you without having to do all the guesswork.

Giving the lights their own closed cooling system will help immensely with keeping the CO2 levels up...IMO, I don't think I'd try to run CO2 without a IR sensor if I had any kind of room air being vented out - just because it leaves too much up to guessing...

 

[2buds]

Deffinately set yourself up an external cooling system for your lights. When summer arrives you'll be real glad you did. My IR co2 monitor malfunctioned, I use a sprinkler timer rainbird ESp-24MC model with a cycle & soak feature. This lets me set a total number of hours to add co2 and using the cycle&soak feature I have it cycle on 5 minutes off 10 minutes untill it runs through 4.5 hours of co2 that way its kinda like a constant supply of co2 during the entire light cycle. The timer also waters things and I have another that runs some of the lights. I think I'm fixin to run all lights from the other sprinkler timer, keeps things on track even if the power fails, everything stays on the same time/hourly schedule.

 

[Guest]

You'd be a lot better off in the longrun if you didnt ventilate and replenish,you're going to have a pretty big fluctuation if you go that route,and more than 300PPM fluctuation is no good.Its going to take the [plant time to adjust to 1500PPM and go into "overdrive",if the levels are dcontantly dropping too low then being replenished,the plants wont benefit at all.I'd go with a sealed room with no ventilation except during the dark hours where the co2 given off by the plants and the pilot light of a burner buil;ds co2 levels over 2000PPM(in my room)

 

[NorCal]

thanx for the info fellas!!!
the controller I have maintains levels of co2. it has a sensor that senses when the co2 in the atmosphere is low and it gets trigered to come on. because of this my settings arent really being used as the controller it seems is trying to disperse when it wants, not every 40 minutes for 10 minutes like i set it. it is basically turning the co2 on until the temps hit 88 then it turns the fans back on, then it turns em off once its a couple degrees lower and the co2 starts.

im thinking im gonna maybe buy a ppm controller to just set the levels to what I want them to be and see how everything interacts, next round im just gonna go w 6" air cooled lights and independently exhaust them, I jjust dont want to try and make another 4" hole as i think 4" are usesless for aircooling hoods and once the 4" hole is there its gonna be hard to make a 6 incher out of it....