Question concerning hepa/carbon filter for climate controlled grow tent/room

guff6387

Member
I plan on purchasing a grow tent to enable me to control the climate (CO2, humidity, temp.) of my plants to give myself maximum yield, less maintence, and overall less worries. I am currenly growing four plants under a 400 watt hydrofarm convertable light in a spare room, but my plans are to have 3 400 watt convertables on a light rail inside about a 10' long by 5' wide and 7' tall grow tent with all the appropriate equipment. Now I am starting to bud in my spare room and I want to get rid of the smell but i want a filter/fan combo to fit the grow tent not my spare room. I have read on climate control rooms and from the information I have gathered I need a carbon filter w/ an inline fan and also a HEPA filter connected. With all the different size filters and different brands I was wondering what is a good high quality brand and combination? I can only find combos that come with the carbon filter and fan and no HEPA filter. I don't want a cheap filter/fan so what is a good filter/fan combo and a good HEPA filter to connect to for my size room (~10'X5'X7')? I am trying to go for good top of the line brands but not too over the top ridiculous price by finding good deals online. I have been considering active air filters because they are backed by hydrofarm and I lean toward the longer warranty which is why hydrofarm is my favorite.
 

wyatte

Active Member
forget the buy it as a package.. build your own and its much cheapier.
I wrote in another thread of people trying to get rid of smell.... as a mechanical engineer... here are my plans.... and forget the hepa filter.... its not needed unless you live in an area with a crap load of bugs.... The following is from the other post......

Great post people!!!! I as an mechanical engineer would like to add a little engineering insite..... This comming off of what other people have listed.

First of all go to http://www.oceanproaquatics.com/shop...und-p-324.html for your carbon.... its bulk and cheapier.


What I would do as a grower and engineer is this.... go to lowes... they have 2gallon plastic buckets for like 2-3 bucks. Make sure you buy the lid too... its another dollar or so....

Take that bucket and on the lower sides of it (as in not the bottom but the lowest part of the sides towards the bottom of the bucket) Swiss cheese that sob all the way around the bucket. The larger the holes the better...(wouldnt go larger than 1.5 inches though) Buy the carbon filters that Griffin mentioned. (again Griffin... brilliant - props to you!!) Hot glue them to the inside of the bucket on the sides covering the holes. All the holes.... leave no hole uncovered. (even if this means that you need to drill less holes) Then, fill the bucket with the carbon mentioned in the link above.

One thing that I would do however, is when getting those pellets that they sell... I would put them in a big ziplock bag and smash them with a hammer to get them almost pulverized. The smaller you get them... the more surface area = the better the scrubbing action = less smell.

Take the lid and cut a hole in it and attach your duct work to that. Once you put the lid on the bucket with the ductwork... it becomes air tight and all of the air gets sucked in through the holes in the bottom of the bucket. If you like, you can always screw the bucket to a wall or whatever before filling it with carbon if your setup needs it to be off of the floor.

I will be building one of these very soon. You can also use a mesh pencil cup and a mesh trash can (both from staples maybe walmart if you are lucky.) the the smaller one and wrap a nylon around it... then fill the larger trashcan with the carbon and put the smaller cup into it. Attach the ducting to the smaller cup. Only problem with this is the carbon if you get small carbon can fall out of the mesh holes on the trash can.
Hence the reason I will be using a bucket.

Hope this helps. Bucket etc is only a few dollars at any lowes. Carbon is your choice on where you get it from.... remember to watch shipping charges on it... and other than that.. you should be ok. If you lack a way to attach the ducting to the bucket lid.... check in the HVAC section at lowes. You might be able to get a ducting attachment to a box. It will have a flange on it that you can use. If you find it.. you will know what I am talking about. If you cant find that... get a 6in to 4 in reducer... only 7 something each (I just had to buy two) cut the hole in the lid at 4 inches and push the adapter through it from the inside out. The larger piece will keep it from slipping out. You can either use caulking to seal it up or actually... duct tape.

Once mine is built (end of the week or so..) I will post pics.
I really need to post pics of my growing rooms (hence plural) and my aero set ups. Perhaps next week I can do that. 800 plant capability in flowering alone and 400 plus mothers in the veg. All home built systems... and do not need to do everything at once. Its all add on systems as I grow.

All that college education is being put to good use :smile:




On an added note... I just got a prefilter with a carbon filter attached to it at lowes for 9 something. It is much larger than needed and is attached to a plastic grid...it can be cut down to size and removed from the grid very easily. I also found out that the 5 gallon buckets are cheapier than the 2 gallon ones. Whichever size is up to you.

hope this helps...
 

guff6387

Member
forget the buy it as a package.. build your own and its much cheapier.
I wrote in another thread of people trying to get rid of smell.... as a mechanical engineer... here are my plans.... and forget the hepa filter.... its not needed unless you live in an area with a crap load of bugs.... The following is from the other post......

Great post people!!!! I as an mechanical engineer would like to add a little engineering insite..... This comming off of what other people have listed.

First of all go to http://www.oceanproaquatics.com/shop...und-p-324.html for your carbon.... its bulk and cheapier.


What I would do as a grower and engineer is this.... go to lowes... they have 2gallon plastic buckets for like 2-3 bucks. Make sure you buy the lid too... its another dollar or so....

Take that bucket and on the lower sides of it (as in not the bottom but the lowest part of the sides towards the bottom of the bucket) Swiss cheese that sob all the way around the bucket. The larger the holes the better...(wouldnt go larger than 1.5 inches though) Buy the carbon filters that Griffin mentioned. (again Griffin... brilliant - props to you!!) Hot glue them to the inside of the bucket on the sides covering the holes. All the holes.... leave no hole uncovered. (even if this means that you need to drill less holes) Then, fill the bucket with the carbon mentioned in the link above.

One thing that I would do however, is when getting those pellets that they sell... I would put them in a big ziplock bag and smash them with a hammer to get them almost pulverized. The smaller you get them... the more surface area = the better the scrubbing action = less smell.

Take the lid and cut a hole in it and attach your duct work to that. Once you put the lid on the bucket with the ductwork... it becomes air tight and all of the air gets sucked in through the holes in the bottom of the bucket. If you like, you can always screw the bucket to a wall or whatever before filling it with carbon if your setup needs it to be off of the floor.

I will be building one of these very soon. You can also use a mesh pencil cup and a mesh trash can (both from staples maybe walmart if you are lucky.) the the smaller one and wrap a nylon around it... then fill the larger trashcan with the carbon and put the smaller cup into it. Attach the ducting to the smaller cup. Only problem with this is the carbon if you get small carbon can fall out of the mesh holes on the trash can.
Hence the reason I will be using a bucket.

Hope this helps. Bucket etc is only a few dollars at any lowes. Carbon is your choice on where you get it from.... remember to watch shipping charges on it... and other than that.. you should be ok. If you lack a way to attach the ducting to the bucket lid.... check in the HVAC section at lowes. You might be able to get a ducting attachment to a box. It will have a flange on it that you can use. If you find it.. you will know what I am talking about. If you cant find that... get a 6in to 4 in reducer... only 7 something each (I just had to buy two) cut the hole in the lid at 4 inches and push the adapter through it from the inside out. The larger piece will keep it from slipping out. You can either use caulking to seal it up or actually... duct tape.

Once mine is built (end of the week or so..) I will post pics.
I really need to post pics of my growing rooms (hence plural) and my aero set ups. Perhaps next week I can do that. 800 plant capability in flowering alone and 400 plus mothers in the veg. All home built systems... and do not need to do everything at once. Its all add on systems as I grow.

All that college education is being put to good use :smile:




On an added note... I just got a prefilter with a carbon filter attached to it at lowes for 9 something. It is much larger than needed and is attached to a plastic grid...it can be cut down to size and removed from the grid very easily. I also found out that the 5 gallon buckets are cheapier than the 2 gallon ones. Whichever size is up to you.

hope this helps...

Well thank you for the idea but I plan on having my grow tent air tight to save on CO2 (other than the ehaust for the air cooled lights. So I need something that will fit nicely in the tent, where as a 5 gallon bucket is a little too much. So by me having the air constantly being recycled isn't it a good idea to get a fan and filter w/ the hepa? and what brands should i choose for each?
 

LEDwannabe

Member
Try the Dust Shroom Duct Filters. They attach to the inline fan and filters out everything, and allows better airflow that won't stress out inline fan. For your exhaust fan attach a carbon filter. Air coming in will be clean mold, dust, and mite free. Air coming out of tent will be clean and odorless. Most of this clean air will be recycled air going back into your grow room, depending on how much outside air entering the room that your tent is in. Hope this helps.
 

SnapsProvolone

Well-Known Member
Get a centrifugal blower like a vortex and a carbon filter for exhaust.

If using a seperate blower for intake put a dust shroom on it.
 

antwony

New Member
Well thank you for the idea but I plan on having my grow tent air tight to save on CO2 (other than the ehaust for the air cooled lights. So I need something that will fit nicely in the tent, where as a 5 gallon bucket is a little too much. So by me having the air constantly being recycled isn't it a good idea to get a fan and filter w/ the hepa? and what brands should i choose for each?
I wonder if the bucket would still work as an internal scrubber. I know nothing compares with Carbon filtering, regarding odor elimination. But if you don't want to exhaust the CO2, just have an internal scrubber. I've seen carbon boxes that use a computer fans in a room. If you do something on a larger scale, as described, I bet it would reduce the odor. I doubt anything would do-away with all odor unless you create a vacuum and pass the air through the carbon. Please post results of what you come-up with though.
 
Top