[JohnBooty]

The bottom line is that you need thousands of plants to offset the CO2 exhaled by a single person. From what I can tell the ppm estimates on that page you linked are pretty generous -- they seem to be talking about the plants affecting the CO2 ppm in a very very small environment.

     I'm saying its significantly cheaper and potentially more 
     rewarding as a hobby than trying to play god with air quality 
     and a 1k budget

I don't think I agree with this dichotomy. It's like saying reading books is more fun than playing the guitar. You can do both! They're not really in conflict!

And anyway, you can do a lot with indoor air quality for 1K.