Exhale co2 bags questions

Ok so i have the exhale co2 bag in my room. Room does have intake and exhaust. Do u think if i keep the room shut with the exhaust turned off that it will harm my plants in there. All in the room are budded some were already half harvested. One is just getting buttons. I dont wanna harm the plants but i dont wanna waste a 80 dollar co2 bag if i can put it to use. Meaning if i shut the door to keep the co2 in the room how long should i let it go before i open it for fresh air or just periodically check to make sure temps are ok. I wanna get the best out of what i have going. Just installed 3 hlg 260xls in the room yesterday. Any info would be great. Thanks

How many plants are you growing under those 3 HLGs?

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You don’t want to shut down the exhaust fan. You want air exchange to be constant. I have been using exhale CO2 bags for a year and a half and monitor CO2 levels and even though I am running my exhaust fan 24/7 the CO2 levels are above the ambient levels present in the atmosphere. Temps and humidity levels are more important than CO2 levels as well as constant air exchange.
If I had a choice of not running exhaust to try and increase CO2 levels and running it with lower levels I would choose running it 24/7.
Air exchange is more important in general.
Congrats on the new lights you and your ladies are gonna love them.
Depending on your previous lights heat output and your environment you may see an increase in tent temps and you’ll also want to maintain your relative humidity to temps in the proper range for VPD.

Hope this helps

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@Skydiver
Have looked at these bags before. In your opinion, how much do they increase yield? Was shot down on c02 tank by the wife. (Can’t blame her. Keep adding stuff) Thank you kindly.

Right now i have a 6 foot tall 3.5 foot round photo sativa a smaller 4 foot sativa a 4 foot indica and a cheese fem photo. The 2 smaller ones i already harvested half of each only half still cooking on them 2. My big sativa has a good month left on it maybe less. But 4 right now and a mini cream cbd one im keeping tiny. Its like 1.5 feet in a small ass flower pot

I was in a tent plants out grew so i slapped together a small room for them its 4x7x8 flat white. I dont have a co2 monitor but im sure even with exhaust going and the bag in there is still better than no bag. I have noticed the sativa plant buds did a tremendous amount of growth since the bag was put in the room.

I really have no way of knowing if using the CO2 bags increases my yield or not as I haven’t done testing comparisons. What I do know is that the CO2 readings with the bags are higher than without them and the additional CO2 during daylight hours helps the plant grow.
Once the bags are depleted I add them to my compost or into soil I’m recycling for another round.

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This is my first grow so im not sure on if it works better or not. Im sure the extra co2 is a benefit for them either way. The bags are supposed to last 6 to 9 months and if u break it all up at the end u can get an extra week or 2 out of it. So far they seem to be doing better with the bag but ive never really done much or had any problems with any of my plants too much. Nothing major or i have not notice no huge changes since the bag. Its still in the air for me but im sure they help some. Supposed to help yield up to 20 percent more off plants. Never had a harvest without the bags or with them to tell an answer

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@Skydiver so u take the contents of the exhale bag when used up the white mushroomy stuff and mix it in the soil and peralite mix ur gonna plant on next

The reason I asked about how many plants is because each plant will need abundant lighting (PPFD at the canopy >1000.) Most home growers aren’t achieving these lighting levels with their setups. PPFD of >1,000 is achievable with 2 to 3 HLG panels at full power per plant. You can get close with 1 HLG 260 per plant. If you aren’t providing this level of light intensity then the extra CO2 just isn’t worth the expense.

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The only reason to run CO2 is if you have HIGH PPF lights and want to take advantage of them. If your DLI is around 1,000 µmol/j/m2/second then CO2 is wasted. You have to be running insane light levels, and typically high partial pressures of CO2 (to where it’s potentially harmful to be in the same space) in a closed loop system.

CO2 bags simply don’t deliver a meaningful amount of CO2 and is a waste of time and money. Seriously.

I would also suggest that there are a number of other aspects to growing that need to be optimized before ever considering running a closed-loop system. If new to growing you should concentrate on the essentials before branching out. Just my 2 cents.

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Thanks guys. I didnt buy the bag so its no wasted money on my part. Lol. Just trying to get all in line for next grows. Learned so much thru this forum its insane. Wanna get the best i can and when reading up to buy the bags it never tells u anything like this just helps yield up to 20% more.

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My experience as far as CO2 levels with and without the bags…2 bags per 4x8 tent…without around 400-500 with them 500-900 or so. Depends on volume of vegetation in the tent. That being said I’m not running a closed loop system but I do have more than enough lighting to achieve the benchmark where I could use closed system with CO2 generator but don’t want to go that far. I would think with the higher levels of CO2 that I have it would benefit them versus not having them.
Seriously lol
Maybe I’m missing something in my thinking?

Absolutely reuse/recycle when I can.
I have a 40 gallon container that I’ve dumped some older soil pots into and have been adding not only old mushroom compost from bags to it but also leaves and stems into it and they all get broken down by the critters in the soil from adding worm compost from my worm bin and keeping things hydrated.
I’m mostly running/reusing previous grows doing no till from previous grows by amending the soil with organic nutrients and planting again back into them. Trick is to keep the soil critters alive after harvest to keep them alive and working. I don’t remove the soil root ball just the top structure and eventually will twist the trunk until the roots break off and remove what is still attached.
If I don’t have room for the old bags in that container I will use some in existing pots as mulch or toss outside in garden or compost bin.
I use all my leafs and stems as mulch right on growing plants or previous grows pots or compost them. Minimal waste and those leaves and stems contain all the nutrients left over and will add to the soil.

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Oh I think yields can increase, you can also benefit from a lower exchange rate of air in your space. And I would never bet against you anyway haha. My observation is a general one and wish I could keep folks from wasting their money on exhale bags when running poor lights for instance.

I think a new grower should concentrate on getting the other aspects of the grow down before pursuing CO2.

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Well i just put in 3 hlg 260 xls in the room. Should be sufficient enough lighting

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Ive been pretty wrll informed on alot of bases with @Covertgrower @Cannabian @Not2SureYet @imSICKkid @Nicky @pptrsha1. Im just wonder all this stuff for tge next grow will it be worth it to throw a bag or 2 in the room. Im pretty much covered on lights and everything just figuring in the co2 factor now i got most stuff down. My next grow will be an impressive one and i will even do a grow journal for it. Everyone who helped me out deserves to see what efforts they put forth helping has done. I appreciate everything more than u guys know.

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Unless it’s a sealed tent, with zero air exchange it’s pointless. Just my opinion.

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Nah those exhale bags are just a waste of money. Unless your in a sealed grow like Covert stated.

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even still, if you had a sealed room, the bags are not worth it, the ppm is not even close to high enough to make any noticeable difference.

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