SMELL PROBLEMS Help Please!!

I'm late in flower and I'm starting to smell in my house... My last grow was fine with CF, but this grow for some reason is not working.

I can't figure out if the problem is with a CF that isn't good/big enough or if the problem is with all my connections being air tight...because my setup is currently: fresh air -> tent -> CF -> light 1 -> light 2 -> 440cfm fan -> attic

I have tape around all connections inside tent so I'm not sure...I

was thinking to move CF into attic so my fan would push the air through the CF ....so something like this:

fresh air -> tent -> light 1 -> light 2 -> fan -> attic -> CF

OR

fresh air -> tent -> light 1 -> light 2 -> attic -> fan -> CF

Would either of these work????

If these won't work I have a CAN 50lb CF I can install assuming my DR150 can handle the weight... but I dont want to install unless I have to.

What should I do??! Please I want to fix the smell NOW!! I still have 3 weeks flowering left

thanks all

BTW, I tried ONA buckets and I dont understand why people think they're so good? Within 2 days ALL MY ONA I had in bucket IS GONE!!! wtf

I also have another 450cfm fan..... I could also do this:

Fan #1 - fresh air -> tent -> light 1 -> light 2 -> fan -> Y duct -> attic -> CF (sucking air through lights into Y duct connection, then into attic fan/filter)
Fan #2 - fresh air -> tent -> ducting -> Y duct -> attic -> fan -> CF (sucking air through ducting in tent to other side of Y duct connection, then into attic fan/filter)

Honestly I'd rather not add the extra fan/Y duct if I can get away with just the 1

Nobody? well i went ahead and moved the CF in the attic and left everything else the way it was. I think it's working to get rid of the extra smell. It also improved airflow in the tent due to less ducting and no cf

we'll see if it actually worked

I always suggest that you PULL air through the carbon filter to use them to their full ability. In your first post, you wrote:

fresh air -> tent -> light 1 -> light 2 -> fan -> attic -> CF

OR

fresh air -> tent -> light 1 -> light 2 -> attic -> fan -> CF


Looking up your tent, I see that is a 5x5x6.5' tent roughly or 162.5 cubic foot. Bit of a weird space to have two lights in. I would think 1 1000w would rock a 5x5 tent nicely. With 162.5 C.F., you could almost keep a negative pressure on it with a 4" filter / fan. You say you have a 440 cfm fan so I think it would be a 6" yes? If you just want to do one fan, I would put the big boy on the ground, run the ducting up with an elbow so it does not collapse and hamper air flow so it would filter the air and your lights would be getting cooler air from the bottom of the tent, itd be like this:

CAN CF(up and over with duct elbow)------>light----->light---------->Inline Fan(Pulling Air)-----> Exhaust outside tent.

I would suggest this as it sounds like the roof of your tent is getting crowded with two lights (and heavy) so the prospect of hanging a large filter does not excite me here.

I hope this helps. The information here is a bit frantic and hard to really reply to. I hope this gives you an idea of what to do. It would have been much easier to reply if you calmed down and gave the tent dimensions, light info, and rated filter cfm.

-PE

Also I forgot to comment on your ONA problem. You are not supposed to just take the lids off. It works off of evaporation and if you just take the lids off, you will get a very short burst of effectiveness and it'll be dead. I heat a nail with a lighter and poke two holes at a time in the lid until I get just enough evaporation to suit my needs then I dont poke any more holes. Works well for me and I get a few months out of a bucket.

Ponicengineer said:

Also I forgot to comment on your ONA problem. You are not supposed to just take the lids off. It works off of evaporation and if you just take the lids off, you will get a very short burst of effectiveness and it'll be dead. I heat a nail with a lighter and poke two holes at a time in the lid until I get just enough evaporation to suit my needs then I dont poke any more holes. Works well for me and I get a few months out of a bucket.

Click to expand...

ahh!! i thought you supposed to pour it into the bucket! shit! haha ok... I'll try it again but with the whole ona jar inside bucket with 2 holes

thanks for the reply man...so you're saying to use the BIGGER 50lb CF right? Will that work with 440cfm fan and be able to cool lights?

So when you say lay on the ground, you mean just lay it vertically in the tent, run ducting using an elbow or in such a way to limit bends... to the lights?

I think i'm going to have to use the bigger one anyway. The smell was gone for a bit, but it's back again with the CF in the attic so that didn't work.

I will try your way... I just want to make sure that my fan has the juice to handle 2 lights and the bigger cf? As it is, I'm running the 440cfm fan on medium - high to get enough air flow in the tent to cool lights.

I have a FULL room to play with, I'm starting to think about just ditching the tent and hang cf /fan somehow or possibly move the bigger cf + fan into attic and just have the room open instead of all crammed in tent

Thanks for your help btw... +rep!!

Np. Just remember, tents are good. It is much easier to me to control the conditions in a tent versus an entire room. I think the fan should have the juice should the carbon filter cfm match or exceed a rating of ~400cfm. The big filter will most definitely pull more air through than the smaller one and should allow you to run a single-fan type setup.

And yes, put the filter so its vertically on the ground, flange in the air. Ducting goes up vertically with an elbow so the duct does not impede the flow of air. Have it run through your lights and make sure your fan is pulling through the filter and exhausting outside of the tent. With that large of cfm (even effective cfm after all the duct and reflectors) should be more than enough to keep a negative pressure on that tent.

Awesome!! thanks alot again man! I'll get the installed tomorrow when lights are back on!!

Well...I got the bigger CAN 50 50lb CF installed in the way we talked about and it still stinks!! I checked and retaped all my connections to assure no air leaks...idk what else to do/check?

I think the can 50 should have no problem at all with just the 5 plants? I have my 450cfm fan dialed down to the medium-high mark so 3/4 turned up... Is it turned up too high maybe?? Maybe too much air going through cf? I think the cf rating can handle the cfm of this fan though...? Any other help is greatly appreciated;.. i'm starting to run out of ideas

Can you post a link to the filter you have ? From your explanation, Id think it a 400+ cfm filter. You want a lot of cfm to keep a negative pressure on the tent.

Remember, filters will usually berated by max cfm, some have differing max scrub and max exhaust advertised. You want to match the filter to the fan to get the maximum result. See if you can find the filter model and shoot me a pm and I will see if I can think of anything else that may help you.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I thought the smell was gone. But it's getting bad again!! I don't get it. All my seals are taped up good, and I'm using a big CF: http://www.canfilters.com/canfilters_66.html

I have tried my 450cfm fan on different settings in between high/medium and my attic reeks. When I open attic door where my exhaust goes it fuckin reeks. What else can I do/check? I know the cf isn't too small.

Maybe add an extra cf on the exhaust end in the attic?? I can post pics of setup if that would help

I'm assuming i should be running my fan at medium/high (450cfm fan) for my filter (can 66)?

I'm wondering if it's time to refill carbon...I don't see another reason a filter this big can't handle 5 plants

i taped them all...both flower lights already taped at all gaps

I did buy the filter used...maybe it's carbon is just out or needs to be baked...you can bake the carbon for 30min to bring it back cant you?

I haven't ever heard of anyone doing that, not to say it isn't possible. I don't think it's likely though considering the carbon works like a sponge and once it's full of particles I think it's trash.

It really needs to be cf fan lights outside. If you have air leaks in your hoods in the way in the first post like you said it was hooked up it will pull smelly air from the room through the hoods and out with out being scrubbed. The way I have suggested the downside to it is if you have air leaks it will push hot air back into the room. I corrected that with a tube of caulk and a lighter to find the leaks.

I think cf just help and dont really get all of the smell 100 percent. And that you need other things to help get rid of the smell or cover it up like ona.