A few co2 questions

Ok so this is my first attempt at using co2. I have a 2x4 grow box that im using to bloom 10 clones once they get the roots to go into it. Im doing flood and drain with hydroton as my medium. Also using a 400w hortilux hps. Probably gonna up it to my 600w when i get a chance but my main questions are how long and how often should i run my co2 and how do i go about measuring the ppm in the air? My timer/regulator only shows the Kpa/psi and the cf/h the built in timer allows me to set on from 0.25 min all the way up to 10 min with the off setting allowing me to have it off from 0.25 hours to 4.0 hours. Also is it more adventagious to have the co2 come on while its dark or light? By the way the regulator is a "Optimum Growth co2 regulator FGR30320". Any help is greatly appreciated and i apologize in advance if this is somewhere on the forums but its hard for me to search on my phone. And co2 brings up too many unneeded topics to sort through.

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Your local hydro shop sells a c02 meter for about 30 buxs per test I think I use a controller. To get c02 to shine heat and humidity need to be right. Heat 85-90 degrees humidity 60-75 if you cannot achieve heat and humidity c02 will not work correctly.

Consistency is key or you will not reap the benefits. A co2 monitor/controller is the only purchased control for any of my environmental requirements in my grow. I don't believe in the whole room, everything combined controllers but co2 does need more precision than a timer, be it tank or burner. Co2 is only used during lights on, no it will not make it better during lights off. And if you don't have control of all other environment aspects and know your strains then it is mostly wasted.

Well then i guess ill run it when the light is on because the heat is around 82 with the light on in the box and the humidity is around 46% but my local hydro shop closed down so now the closest one is about 2 hours away. But i guess ill have to make the trip so i can get what i need for my babies. I appreciate the help because i was planning on running it at night but if higher temps are better then the day is deffinately the way to go for me. Also that temp reading is with the fans on. I know the fans must be off so they can soak in the co2 so im sure itll rise close to 90 maybe little more with fans off. Also another question i had is this box is in a master bedroom and theres another bedroom next to it with a small entrance going from one room to the next. My dog stays in the other room. Hes probably a good 30 feet away and i have a carbon filter hooked to the exhaust fans but should i be worried about carbon monoxide poisoning? Ill move him out if i have to but i feel like theres too much air to co2 ratio outside the box to harm him but i wanted to ask some experts before i come home to a dead dog. Also the box is sealed and built for co2 so with fans off and co2 on it shouldnt leak out and as i said theres a carbon filter on the exhaust to filter smell/remaining co2?

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Ya, If you have it at the levels that are beneficial to a plant, there is no way a dangerous amount could escape and travel 30 feet to threaten your dog. Even Co leakage from using a burner in an exhausted space shouldn't be an issue.

Also, though you didn't mention it, I assume you'll keep your circulation fans going even while the exhaust fan is off, which is correct . The leaves will gobble up the co2 in the immediate area of the leaf surface so it's beneficial to have at least some circulation going always.

Cheers!

your plants only photosynthesize during lights on. so they only need the supplemental co2 during lights on. with co2 your plants like it a little warm, but being warm is not why you use co2 during lights on.

you cant give your dog carbon MONoxide poisoning with carbon DIoxide since theyre not the same thing.


carbon filters will remove smell. they wont change carbon dioxide to oxygen but your dog (and you) will still be ok.

Sometimes rookies think they can add co2 with a tank, regulator, and only some stupid formula, with any kind of legitimacy. You cannot do that. You need a controller, like this http://www.titancontrols.net/products/co2-devices/atlas-1.aspx

Sometimes you will find that if you grow in a living environment, the presence of people (and dogs, etc) in the house will already have the co2 at 600, 700 ppm. At that point, if the rest of your setup isn't dialed in, optimized fully, raising the co2 above that will only bring out deficiencies, and no better growth. Running a garden with everything maxed out, like I do, is really quite difficult. It is sooo much easier to back everything off a little, and have nice even green leaves, healthy plants, at the expense of a little yield. I can get plants to grow like monsanto corn in the summer at 13, 1400ppm average, but they always have some deficiencies like that, even if the yield and quality is amazing.