How effective are ozone generators? i'm thinking of setting up my 400w hps in my closet, which is just a average sized closet in an apartment. if i sealed it up with plastic and I place an ozone generator in the closet that ran on a timer would the stink of 4 big plants be easily controlled?
I dont know if i am 100% sure but putting an ozone generator that close inside your grow room i heard causes damage to the plants, most people just kept it in the room near the closet. you could easily make your own active carbon scrubbers there are tons of tutorials on it around the web.
Ozone will work fine at controlling odor. Also you can use the ozone generator in the same room without harming the plants. In fact it will help them by killing fungus and bacteria. Be careful how much you breath in though. Its not good for humans in large doses.
Will I can't disagree with TokingNinja more (no disrespect intended). It will not only harm your plant, it will kill it the same day. Not wilted, not slightly browned, but dead! If you put your ozone generator in a small room with your grow, you can count on dead plants right away. How do I know this? I'm the dumb ass who did it. Got me a brand new Unvonair5000. Built a killer shelf to place it on in my grow closet. All set! Turn it on!....................... Open the closet door eight hours later to find the plant nearest to the ozone generator flat (was 4.5 feet tall). It looked like Oprah Winfrey sat on it after eating a load of Mexican food. The plant next to it was slumpped over, and the one on the other end of the room looked as sad as a plant in day 20 of flowering could look. The flat plant never came back. It was done. This was back when I did the premix soil grow. I posted my results on overgrow.com and found that I was not alone. It was a common mistake. Don't do it. I know what I'm talking about. Ozone is not good for the grow at all. Use it in the ducting. Works damn good piped into the exhuast ducting. I know I'm not the only retard who made this mistake, please don't join me. Or you can listen to my man TokingNinja. Peace, R.
Like Rumpleforeskin is saying, too much ozone will kill the plants so it's best in very small doses- and at intervals. Something small that turned on for 15 minutes off for an hour. It's better in high concentrations in the ducting, he's totally right about that. Negative ions are better for controlling mold and bacteria inside the grow chamber while not being harmful like large amounts of ozone. Even then extremely high concentrations wouldn't be a good idea. Go light on it. Also, UV lighting is great at controlling bacteria too- both in the intake (kills everything you don't want in the air, even viruses) and as UVB tubes or flood lights on the plants. (reptile lights)
FWIW - I used an ozone generator in my grow closet without any ill effect and it did an awesome job of odor control. HOWEVER my generator is designed for small enclosures and it has an intermittent - 20 min on, 40 min off - cycle to further reduce it's output. Also, the closet I used was not a "average sized closet in an apartment", it was a large, walk-in closet so there was a lot more space. I have little doubt that a larger "normal" sized generator would have put out way too much ozone for my grow area.
thanks for the info guys. i still cant quite decide my what my exact setup will be, but its prolly best to know whats good with some ozone before i go frying plants and my own lungs with it.
Look into a Vaportek optimum 4000 ,it may be too much but they have smaller ones and they use a special system not to cover anything up but it binds the stink with the stuff and converts it into something that isnt ofensive of even resembleing the stink.
Yeah my bad, I had only read about a few peoples home made generators putting out small amounts and didn't think about how a large amount would effect it. No need to rub it in you sore winner
Unless a homade ozone gen. is made with a simple germ. bulb they actually can be VERY powerful just using a glass plate with a metalic screen on each side and wired to an simple neon transformer,about 15000 volts. The whole thing can be made for $10-50 bucks but if you do i would suggest being very careful and only useing it in a mixing box in the output of a larger grow.High doses of ozone is very corosive.