Do I need a carbon filter for an airtight room with CO2?

I was just talking a guy at my local hydro shop about using CO2 in an airtight room. He told me that asside from venting my lights (which won't affect the air in the room) I would need a carbon filter inside the room to "clean" the air. He said that this is to clean out something (I think he said microbes) that the plants produce . Is that true? I thought one of the added benefits of an airtight room was that you don't need a carbon filter.

P.S. Should I believe anything the hydro shop guys tell me? I never feel like I can trust a salesman

bumpalumpin

Dont believe everything hydro shop owners have to say. Carbon filters scrub the air... They do improve the quality of the air due to this. This can help reduce mold spores, pollen, small mites and dust. It is beneficial but not necessary to remove these. I would recommend a carbon filter for odor control; Even in a sealed room. Take a crap in a small room and dont flush - eventually you will start to smell it in the hallway.

Could something simpler and less expensive like an air purifier do the trick? I'm assuming that if I wanted to buy a scrubber I'd have to buy another $80 fan too.

Gastanker said:

Dont believe everything hydro shop owners have to say. Carbon filters scrub the air... They do improve the quality of the air due to this. This can help reduce mold spores, pollen, small mites and dust. It is beneficial but not necessary to remove these. I would recommend a carbon filter for odor control; Even in a sealed room. Take a crap in a small room and dont flush - eventually you will start to smell it in the hallway.

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i agree 100% MINUS THE TAKING A DUMP PART///LMAO

Air purifier? Thats what a carbon filer is... I would NOT suggest one of those ionizer things. If it's not getting rid of the odor it's not purifying the air. You could use a filter system that uses filter pads. But those use fans as well and are generally carbon based also - just dont last as long nor filter as well.

Yes you would have to buy another fan to pull through the carbon filter. Sucks but definately a must. Just putting a carbon filter on the ground and not pushing any air through it would unfortunately do nothing.

You will need an exhaust fan anyway, sealed or not. Co2 doesn't work at night so you will need to run exhaust during the night cycle. The humidity also gets way too high without exhaust (at least where I live) and a dehumidifier is more expensive than a fan/filter combo.

GL!

FileError404 said:

You will need an exhaust fan anyway, sealed or not. Co2 doesn't work at night so you will need to run exhaust during the night cycle. The humidity also gets way too high without exhaust (at least where I live) and a dehumidifier is more expensive than a fan/filter combo.

GL!

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nobody has said anything about using a sealed room and CO2? That will be a nice little expensive tomb for your plants. You must have some kind of venting / mixing with fresh air, otherwise your ppm will build up and kill the plants. And possibly yourself. and yes, growing weed is expensive. if you can't afford proper ventilation, I wouldn't bother doing it

Ian Singerdale said:

nobody has said anything about using a sealed room and CO2? That will be a nice little expensive tomb for your plants. You must have some kind of venting / mixing with fresh air, otherwise your ppm will build up and kill the plants. And possibly yourself. and yes, growing weed is expensive. if you can't afford proper ventilation, I wouldn't bother doing it

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Hold up, not to be a dick or anything but, the title to this post does say sealed room with Co2. You should have a passive fan running for a couple minutes every hour. You should extract some air through out the light cycle and night time. A carbon scrubber keeps the smell to a minimun when a passive fan blows out some stinky. Passive exhaust or passive intake and filter would be your best bet.

Oh and get a module for your co2. Gotta have a screen display to see what ppm is there.

You guys forgetting something? Sealed room? Where's the O2 coming from?

herbose said:

You guys forgetting something? Sealed room? Where's the O2 coming from?

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CO2 + water --> Sugar + O2, look familiar?

FileError404 said:

You will need an exhaust fan anyway, sealed or not. Co2 doesn't work at night so you will need to run exhaust during the night cycle. The humidity also gets way too high without exhaust (at least where I live) and a dehumidifier is more expensive than a fan/filter combo.

GL!

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Can't you set up CO2 systems that will maintain a constant 1500 ppm? I'd assume there would be a way to shut it off at night too.

Is a sealed room not the most effective way to use CO2? I was assuming I'd have the lights aircooled constantly, with ducting set up so that it would not affect the air in the room. I'd have a small A/C unit set to keep the temps down when necessary. A dehumidifier. And a CO2 system to maintain 1500ppm during the day and shut off at night. Is there anything else I need to keep the air perfect for my plants (what do they need besides good air temp and enough CO2?)? Does this all make sense?

Yes, you can set up your CO2 system with a controller so it keeps at 1500PPm. I have mine running like that, however the A/C sucks some of it out when it kicks in. But at night I have a constant running exhaust fan with a Can filter. The Sentinel CHHC-1 controls it all. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt8w91szgiY ).

Not sure how "sealed" you are but if I would leave my exhaust off during the night the smell would probably seep through walls, it's so pungent... For some reason they don't reek that much during lights on. - Someone can probably explain it

Just get a fan/filter combo and you can probably get by without a dehumidifier. (They are a big pain in the ass...constant emptying of the tank, plus the extra heat...)

FileError404 said:

Yes, you can set up your CO2 system with a controller so it keeps at 1500PPm. I have mine running like that, however the A/C sucks some of it out when it kicks in. But at night I have a constant running exhaust fan with a Can filter. The Sentinel CHHC-1 controls it all. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt8w91szgiY ).

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That thing looks sweet (now if I could only find that $700 I left lying around). What else do you need to hook up the CO2 tank to that system?

FileError404 said:

Just get a fan/filter combo and you can probably get by without a dehumidifier. (They are a big pain in the ass...constant emptying of the tank, plus the extra heat...)

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Should I set this up so that the filter is just sitting in the room with exhuast running out of the room and a passive intake somewhere? If I was using that controller could I then plug this exhaust fan into the humidity part so it would just kick on when the humidity was too high? Thanks for your help.

I guess you didn't believe me when I said just cool your lights and don't worry about added ventilation.......

Odour can't seep through walls....If the room is adequately sealed, air/odour will not migrate in or out.

If you have enough cfm to cool your lights you shouldn't need an a/c, but a dehumidifier might be a good idea.

If your gonna vent the room there's no point in using CO2.....your just wasting your cash.

I got my controller for $509 and yes, that's the way I have it set up, fan sucks air through the filter and out of the room with passive intake. Here are some pics:

Pic1: Filter with output - The fan is under the tape The 4" ducting is from the A/C
Pic2: A/C and CO2 tank with solenoid regulator.
Pic3: Controller - The 1 is not visible on the pic, it's on 1296 PPm and going up.
Pic4: Upper duct and fan for lights, lower for exhaust and A/C
Pic5: Filter: Yep, it's huge!
Pic6: Lightrail 5
Pic7 & 8:GIRRRLLZZZZ!

Hope this helps! Any Q's, just ask

FileError404 said:

I got my controller for $509 and yes, that's the way I have it set up, fan sucks air through the filter and out of the room with passive intake. Here are some pics:

Pic1: Filter with output - The fan is under the tape The 4" ducting is from the A/C
Pic2: A/C and CO2 tank with solenoid regulator.
Pic3: Controller - The 1 is not visible on the pic, it's on 1296 PPm and going up.
Pic4: Upper duct and fan for lights, lower for exhaust and A/C
Pic5: Filter: Yep, it's huge!
Pic6: Lightrail 5
Pic7 & 8:GIRRRLLZZZZ!

Hope this helps! Any Q's, just ask

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Do you run this fan just at night or 24/7?

redi jedi said:

Do you run this fan just at night or 24/7?

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Just at night.

So without it, your saying you can smell your crop outside your growroom?

FileError404 said:

Just at night.

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So no new air is brought into the room during the day? Does the CO2 turn off at night? Beautiful grow room btw.