catch-22 w/ carbon filter

Smell is a BIG deal in my situation. In an effort to convince the landlord to let me grow, I bought a big, badass carbon filter to show that I'm not fuckin' around, there won't be a smell. I think I went too far.

The tent is a secret jardin DR90, so it's a 3x3x6.
The maximum weight support listed for the tent is 65 pounds.

The light is a sun system LEC 315 (315 watt cmh with ballast built in reflector)
Listed somewhere around 23-25 pounds

The filter is a can 66. 12" diameter
Listed weight 35 pounds (I know they gain weight through usage)

So hanging the light and the filter would be hanging around 60 pounds, and the filter will gain weight, so first of all, I'm not gonna do that, and secondly, even if I did, I'd have no extra weight for anything else at all.

my first instinct was to just say fuck it and push air through the filter instead of pulling though it, keeping the filter outside the tent.
I'm also trying to keep a low visual profile (can't have the tent where I wanted it because the landlord doesn't like it blocking part of the window) so it would be a benefit to keep the filter inside the tent.

so I went to wally world with this crazy idea to put it as close to the top of the tent as I could on top of something. I had the idea while in the garage smoking a cigarette, saw a stack of empty 5 gallon buckets sitting there, with a 12" diameter, and really, I might save a tiny bit of space by putting the filter on top of a stack of those if it fits stably, but not enough space to be worth the risk IMO.

I found a stool with a square top that's 12"x12", but seriously, I'm gonna sacrifice a ton of plant space if I do this.

The big thing I'm noticing is that in this configuration at least, the light is cramped. it seems really close to the filter. Keeping in mind that it's a cmh with a vertical bulb, the back right corner of the reflector is lined up caddycorner to the front left "corner" of the filter, so mostly it's just warm ballast next to the prefilter, just looking for confirmation that a bit of the prefilter being about two inches from the end of the reflector won't ignite.

And how bad is it to push instead of pull through the filter? (I bought a second prefilter, paperclipped it together so it's 8" diameter, so it fits inside the filter, so there's a prefilter on both sides.

pulling through the filter is ideal for me too because I'd like to be able to either put the exhaust out the window or just throw the exhaust in the room while doing intake from the window.

Can anybody think of a better way than this to have the filter in the tent without bringing the whole thing down?

clap clap clap .........your over kill factor is nice i will give that i am impressed

but u are going about this wrong
1 take that huge ass filter out and replace it with a 6 inch ....hell a 4 inch would work for u

now u want to set that up u can hang that one and the other

the big ass large one u are going to turn it into something called a air polisher ..........basically this will be outside the tent cleaning that air and just dumping it back into the room .........this will filter out the smell plus the smoke making the landlord feeling even better
http://www.ebay.com/usr/foothill-carbon-filters?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

to get your new filter get one that will work for u ..........as for the air polishing have a look at their set ups and copy it for your own

You can push air into a filter..but all you will do is circumvent the dust filter and quickly pack all your carbon with dirt, thus rendering it useless.

A trip to HD and some 2x4 would solve this massive dilemma you have

legallyflying said:

A trip to HD and some 2x4 would solve this massive dilemma you have

Click to expand...

how so? the 1'x1' stool is pretty much taking the minimum amount of space to have that in the tent

justugh said:

clap clap clap .........your over kill factor is nice i will give that i am impressed

but u are going about this wrong
1 take that huge ass filter out and replace it with a 6 inch ....hell a 4 inch would work for u

now u want to set that up u can hang that one and the other

the big ass large one u are going to turn it into something called a air polisher ..........basically this will be outside the tent cleaning that air and just dumping it back into the room .........this will filter out the smell plus the smoke making the landlord feeling even better

Click to expand...

I spent like 200$ on this carbon filter, you don't think there's a way I could make this the only filter I have?
I appreciate the idea of an air polisher, she just lets me take dabs in the house, flower has to be outdoors for the smell (and she wonders why I only dab)

The only fans I have are a six inch vortex s line 347 cfm and a six inch active air 400cfm, replacing the active air with another vortex before I start the grow though, because of the noise. these two fans are definitely gonna be the maximum I'm gonna want to produce as far as noise, so I don't wanna get a 3rd inline fan to make this filter an air scrubber,
I do, however, need a filter that fits these fans. This filter fits the bill as far as airflow, a smaller filter and I'd pull air through faster than the carbon could catch odors.

I do want to upgrade eventually, as soon as I move, but did I just spend a lot of money on so much overkill I can't even use it? really?


any idea on the flammability issue?

ok

your DR90 is now your dry tent

get a gorilla tent and u can use that big ass filter
the only other possible thing to do is will cost u to do it and will be a bitch


the tubes are hollow ...this is something u must correct depending on how much u have u need to fill it with a metal bar or a dowel rod (this goes for the whole tent) .........the next part is the costly one u need pb wield the steelstik stuff alot of it and u most coat and fill in the joints strengthen them to take the weight....when it cures and hardens it will be like rock so if u seal it together it will stay together ....now the trick is to make sure the tent slips over and u have to do all 8

100/150 bucks but by the end u can hang it

I like the gorilla tent idea, but is it seriously impossible to make this setup work without winning the lotto? I've spent over 1100 and don't have plants in the ground yet, I don't really wanna spend any more on anything but soil and nutes for a minute.
rather than that, I'd like get this grow started sometime fucking soon so I can harvest a little bit, since I've spent all the money setting this up while still paying for all of my weed, I'm getting frustrated. I'd much more readily buy a gorilla tent if I had a couple oz's in jars right now.

any idea as to whether or not I would risk igniting the prefilter?

200 for a can66 is a ripoff. But anyways, I have used milk crates to hold filters up in the air. Milk crates are sturdy and stackable.

Edit:
No your filter is not going to catch on fire by being 2" away from your reflector.

Why dont you just hang the filter from the top of the tent. 65lbs-35lbs = 30lbs. I hope your light doesn't weigh 30lbs.

alcohol said:

Why dont you just hang the filter from the top of the tent. 65lbs-35lbs = 30lbs. I hope your light doesn't weigh 30lbs.

Click to expand...

The light is around 25 lbs, it's got a built in ballast

sir

the filter u have is to big it is ment for a 8x8x6 or bigger area

your in a dr90 ....that is enough room for 1 decent plant or a few smaller ones

your carbon filter is to strong and to big ...........something like that is ment for a 700cfm fan for it to work right u need to have the fan that matches it in your little tent u would be exchanging the air once every few secs ...the tent walls will concave in from the negative pressure

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-x-18-ACTIVATED-CARBON-AIR-FILTER-ELIMINATES-HYDROPONIC-ODORS-REFILLABLE-/400614750402?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item5d467ff8c2

order that filter and use it in the tent (these filter are refillable)so after 1 year u can just replace the active carbon instead of buying a whole new filter ....i own one of them i use it in in a dr90 can not smell shit unless the door is open to the tent

this one u can hang in the tent ........use velcro onestrap ...........u can use the 4 inch inline fan that is rated 170 cfm a varible speed controller and u can lower it

YOUR FILTER IS TO BIG FOR YOUR TENT ..........the only way to use it is to do what i told u about reenforcing it or change to a gorilla tent

25+35 < 65.

You should be fine. hook it all up and see how sturdy or not it is. Filter is overkill for tent but will work fine.

For filter to work right he doesn't need 700CFM. In fact, according to CAN, Max Exhaust CFM: 412 cfm / 700 m³h
@ 0.1 sec contact time That is the MAX cfm for filter to work right. Any amount less and it will work correctly.


EDIT: that filter on ebay is junk.

justugh, I value your input and am definitely taking it into consideration but I'm looking for a second opinion, especially because of the amount of time I spent at the grow store talking to a guy about fans and filters, totally disagreed with that 700cfm thing you just said

alcohol, filters gain weight by filtering, I don't really wanna chance it.

so anybody else have any ideas? seems like it's either push through the filter, lose 25% of the tent's surface area, or have to buy a new filter.

and then if I buy a new smaller filter, like say a can 33, will 347 cfm be too much to filter correctly?

I highly doubt you're chancing anything. You think your filter is going to pickup 10lbs? That is a gain of 33% mass. I would email CAN and ask them how much mass it will gain. I think it's negligible. If you would just hook it all up without running the system, you should be able to determine whether the tent is on the brink of collapse or not.

CAN33
Max Exhaust CFM: 200 cfm / 350 m³h
@ 0.1 sec contact time

looks sketchy, I'm not positive, didn't feel like the tent was gonna come down immediately, but I definitely did take it down quickly

alcohol said:

I highly doubt you're chancing anything. You think your filter is going to pickup 10lbs? That is a gain of 33% mass. I would email CAN and ask them how much mass it will gain. I think it's negligible. If you would just hook it all up without running the system, you should be able to determine whether the tent is on the brink of collapse or not.

CAN33
Max Exhaust CFM: 200 cfm / 350 m³h
@ 0.1 sec contact time

Click to expand...

yo after some rearranging I'm feeling pretty confident thanks man

what is the size of the filter .........is it is a 8inch ducting that would be a 700 cfm filter /fan combo
a 6 inch one would be a 400crm filter and fan combo
a 4 inch would be a 170cfm filter and fan combo

if u get a filter u want to match it for the CFM rating with the fan other wise u are not using it all .........a lower powered fan will still suck tho but it will not use all the carbon it will go path of least energy so the suck would only be near the end where the ducting is on so u are going to get smell after awhile that 1 years time has been reduced to a few months (the same carbon has to keep removing the smell soon or later all the pores fill up and they do not capture anymore ...since the fan is not match to the filter the carbon at the end never gets used)

nothing against the guy in the shop .........but his job is to sell u stuff so his advice is off a little .......my only job is to share the info i have personal exp with and know is right ......my payment is the good karma

the way u have it is not going to work the way u want .......the area is lessened the plants would be making contact to the filter and the leaves would clog it ..the heat is not being removed as effectively as it could be so the temps will be higher then they should be

matching the fan and the filter is a must .........other wise u are wasting money and since yours is not refillable u have to replace the whole filter

well, this thread helped me a lot, even if this post makes it look like it didn't
only one more question left for you guys:
I wrapped the entire carbon filter (except the prefilter) in glad press n seal, will this keep it fresh for next year when I make enough money for this?

What I was suggesting with the trip to Home Depot is build a simple frame in the tent and hang it from that.

You could probably use a combo of 1" electrical conduit and 2x4 to build a simply frame.

Ergo: the filter hangs from the frame, it doesn't sit on top of it. Conversely, you could put your filter in a big cardboard box outside the tent and duct air from the tent to the filter "box"

borbor said:

well, this thread helped me a lot, even if this post makes it look like it didn't
only one more question left for you guys:
I wrapped the entire carbon filter (except the prefilter) in glad press n seal, will this keep it fresh for next year when I make enough money for this?

Click to expand...

u do not have to wrap it .........just keep it some place with a static airflow (no movement) .......the clear wrapping is mostly to keep carbon dust from coming out when traveling because the stuff inside will shift around and grind little smaller)

low humiidity too the carbon will soak that up

alcohol said:

EDIT: that filter on ebay is junk.

Click to expand...

do u own one of those filters if not can not call it junk ..............i have 2 of them 4 inch for my dry tent (dr90) and a 6 inch for my flowering (dr150)
they both work great for me .........i replace the carbon in them one time already saving me more then 100 bucks from the replacement cost of getting a new one

if the filters were bad or crappy the ppl selling them would have had some negative reports or claims filed against them ..........look at their rating of 100% look how long they been on the system listing it

they are made by a wife and hubby team from USA ...........if u have a problem with it contact they are more then cool to help fix it but so far 2 years no trouble no smell ..........the cops have been at my front door 2 times since i started this the air dumps out a window into a bush in the front yard the cops had to park near it pass by it then stand near it when the doorbell is rung (nothing they smelled NOTHING )

justugh said:

u do not have to wrap it .........just keep it some place with a static airflow (no movement) .......the clear wrapping is mostly to keep carbon dust from coming out when traveling because the stuff inside will shift around and grind little smaller)

low humiidity too the carbon will soak that up

Click to expand...

oh ok thanks man. Was super duper afraid it would just soak up bullshit all year and by the time I could use it half its life would be over. well I'm guessing it's not a bad thing that I wrapped it up anyway?

so it would probably be smart to take the wrap off the top, throw some silica gel packs in there and seal it up again?