Good quality (large) Carbon Filters for a reasonable price, Pelletized vs granular

The tighter carbon is packed the less airflow and surface area is available to filter the air. Filters are not packed very tight at all. I've made small scale filters out of pet store aquarium carbon (maybe 300 grams) and a bubble bag and shoved it into the exhaust vent on my tent until I could get a proper replacement. it worked surprising well for a few days.

Refill your filters if you can handle the mess of it all. Wear a mask or you'll be blowing carbon dust out of your nose for a week.

@xtsho is right, breaking down lump charcoal is a huge waste of time and energy.

Also filter charcoal has been through a steam process which removes the remaining oils that block the pours of the charcoal. The oils make the charcoal less efficient.

Mr.Head said:

The tighter carbon is packed the less airflow and surface area is available to filter the air. Filters are not packed very tight at all. I've made small scale filters out of pet store aquarium carbon (maybe 300 grams) and a bubble bag and shoved it into the exhaust vent on my tent until I could get a proper replacement. it worked surprising well for a few days.

Refill your filters if you can handle the mess of it all. Wear a mask or you'll be blowing carbon dust out of your nose for a week.

@xtsho is right, breaking down lump charcoal is a huge waste of time and energy.

Also filter charcoal has been through a steam process which removes the remaining oils that block the pours of the charcoal. The oils make the charcoal less efficient.

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I didn't break down lump charcoal I used pellets. It was still a hassle. I'm a big DIY guy but this is one piece of equipment I'd rather buy.

It was years ago and I went roughly by this:

My 8in vivosun filter works pretty well.

Jjgrow420 said:

It depends on the air your filtering, the cfm your running through it, your humidity, dust debris etc... Should last you a solid 2 years
I cycle mine. Flower tent ---> veg tent ---> garbage

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Cool thanks! I just have a 6in Infinity that I run at max speed.

watsongreenthumb said:

Its night and day in my experience, a good quality filter using pelletized carbon at a 2.5 inch or better bed depth will last for years. The filters I am looking to replace are like 7 years old, used indoors for the first year, used just during drying+trimming for an outdoor for 3 years, stored for a few years and then used in an indoor for the last year. and they STILL work, I just think they could work better. Keep in mind these are just scrubbing, I would not even consider running them for exhaust at this point. Also the size of the filters and fans are probably bigger than many people would use in this size space, but I have learned over the years that if you really want to crush smells the bigger the filter and fan the better.

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Back when I first sarted growing Can Filters where just out of my price range so I went cheap & never looked back. I'm not flowering in a tent anymore & have the head space to grow them big. Probably could have went with an 8'' fan instead or running my 6" at maxI may get one eventually

Phresh filters are good quality if it's a quality filter you're after check them out.

Rhino Pro filters were also good but I've not used one in years but worth checking out.

Phresh 6" x 24" didn't last me 2 months. Defeated by a loud "rado purple bubblegum. 6" ACI fan set on 3, RH around 55% average. Phat 6" x 24" at 6 weeks already getting a whiff.. I need a great carbon filter, and these ain't cutting it.

CWF said:

Phresh 6" x 24" didn't last me 2 months. Defeated by a loud "rado purple bubblegum. 6" ACI fan set on 3, RH around 55% average. Phat 6" x 24" at 6 weeks already getting a whiff.. I need a great carbon filter, and these ain't cutting it.

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you want to go with something that uses pelletized carbon and at least 2.5" bed depth. I have found that the odor scrubbing ability and lifespan are directly proportional to the amount (weight) of carbon used in the filter. So many companies filters nowdays especially seem to really skimp on the carbon, there is no amount of marketing that can overcome the basic fact that since its the carbon that absorbs the odors, the more of it you have the more odors can be absorbed. Another thing to note, if you are trying to completely remove all odors, especially in a situation where you are exhausting air from the grow (not a sealed room) you are going to want to use a multi layered approach, like one fan+filter scrubbing and recirculating inside the room, and another fan+filter doing the exhausting. You can add an additional layer of defense by incorporating either some ona gel or an inline ozone generator somewhere in the exhaust after the filter. I have used this method in the past when it was critical to remove any trace of odor from the exhaust, I built a sealed box out of plywood and used 8" duct starting collars from lowes to duct in and out of it, then placed a small plastic bucket full of ona get inside. about once a month I would remove one of the ducts from the collar and dump some ona liquid in to refresh the gel. Worked great, I got the idea from a youtube video I saw back then, 2013 or so.

I thought about putting a "urinal cake" or some mothballs in the vent to take care of masking the last little bit of odor. Thanks for the ideas, watson.

CWF said:

Phresh 6" x 24" didn't last me 2 months. Defeated by a loud "rado purple bubblegum. 6" ACI fan set on 3, RH around 55% average. Phat 6" x 24" at 6 weeks already getting a whiff.. I need a great carbon filter, and these ain't cutting it.

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Didn't last because you need a bigger filter. The cfm for the filter @ single pass thru has to be double the amount of the fan cfm. So if your fan is rated @ 400 cfm you will need a minimum of 750 cfm filter to do the job right.

I have posted this in several threads because I have used almost every filter made except the new Gorilla ones which IMO are the same as the AC Infinity ones which totally suck ass. I also have not used or heard of the Kootenay filters.

Wrong. I measured the flow of my setup using a vent anemometer. 124 cfm at speed 3.

The ACI S6 will only do 400 cfm on a bench with no ducting, at wide open.

CWF said:

Wrong. I measured the flow of my setup using a vent anemometer. 124 cfm at speed 3.

The ACI S6 will only do 400 cfm on a bench with no ducting, at wide open.

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Then good luck with whatever is wrong. Hope you find a solution.