Hydroponics CO2: Faster Hydroponics Indoor Garden Plant Growth & Bigger Yields ^Featured

Written by Chris Jefferson
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This modern device safely adds CO2 to your hydroponics grow room

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an essential airborne hydroponics plant nutrient and at the same time it’s a “greenhouse gas” that takes a heavy toll on the environment. Many urban areas have intermittent “CO2 domes” containing trapped layers of CO2 and other emissions. That dirty air is unfit for us to breathe, as is the air in a hydroponics grow room with added CO2. But hydroponics plants benefit from added levels of CO2, so CO2 augmentation is a popular hydroponics indoor grow room strategy that should be done right if it’s done at all.

When added CO2 is combined with hydroponics lighting and increased amounts of nutrients and water, your hydroponics plants grow faster and produce heavier yields.

Natural background levels of CO2 range from 330-450 ppm, and the ppm number is rising worldwide as humans burn fossil fuels and otherwise generate CO2. Inside indoor grow rooms, professional hydroponics growers add CO2 so grow room air has 800-1400 ppm of CO2.

When indoor hydroponics grow room CO2 levels go higher than about 1500 ppm, plants suffer because high CO2level makes oxygen absorption difficult. And without oxygen, plants suffocate and die.

High levels of CO2 are a health hazard to people; CO2 is toxic for humans. If you feel like you must be in your grow room during high-CO2 periods, wear a respirator that filters the air and provides you adequate oxygenation.

So why even bother with hydroponics CO2? When added CO2 is combined with hydroponics lighting and increased amounts of nutrients and water, your hydroponics plants grow faster and produce heavier yields, that’s why!

CO2 is a main source of carbon for your hydroponics plants; carbon is a building block for proteins, fats and sugars your plants need for metabolic processes. Your hydroponics plants grow via photosynthesis that converts CO2into biomass and energy. Photosynthesis is summarized as follows:

CO2 + water + light => glucose + oxygen.

Glucose is a sugar used for energy. Your plants combine glucose with nutrients to form new plant tissues. Ultimately, this is how your plants build the valuable flowers you seek every harvest time.

CO2 enters your hydroponics plants by a process called diffusion, which is the movement of particles from a high concentration to a low concentration. Simply put, CO2 moves from atmospheric air into the plant because there is more CO2 outside the plant than inside.

In order for hydroponics indoor plants to get more carbon and grow faster, you increase the amount of CO2 in grow room air. When the difference of CO2 levels between inside and outside the plants is increased, diffusion speeds up and more CO2 moves into the plant system. CO2 enrichment generally increases yield by as much as 15-35%.

Because your plants only use added CO2 for photosynthesis when light is present, you only augment CO2 during the lights-on cycle of your hydroponics grow room. CO2 enrichment is virtually useless during dark cycle. Therefore, you should always synchronize CO2 enrichment to your lights-on cycle.

CO2 enrichment is virtually useless during dark cycle. Therefore, you should always synchronize CO2 enrichment to your lights-on cycle.

Be sure to also synchronize CO2 enrichment to correspond to times when any exhaust fans are off. Otherwise, you add CO2 but then it’s sucked out of your grow room! And remember that it’s best to disperse CO2 gas from above and in your hydroponics plants canopy. You want good top to bottom mixing of grow room air during CO2-augmentation cycles to ensure that the diffusion works well for your hydroponics leaves.

There is a lot more for us to discuss about the many techniques of adding CO2 to your hydroponics grow room. This information will ensure safety and effectiveness for your CO2 augmentation. For now, take a look at the fascinating video included with this article. In upcoming articles, we’ll give you more insider tactics for CO2 augmentation so you get the most bang for your hydroponics buck!