How to Set Up a Carbon Filter for Ideal Odor Control

Posted on 03/10/2014.

Grow rooms need good ventilation to keep cool, fresh air coming in and warm, moist "used" air going out. But indoor growing can produce unwanted and even potentially toxic odors and contaminants from soils, fertilizers and the plants themselves. Since the exhaust air often flows into an adjacent indoor area, adding activated carbon filters to your airflow system is the best way to control odors and contaminants. Here's how to set up a system using carbon filters to clean your air while maintaining efficient airflow.

The place for your filter is in the exhaust system. Can-Lite activated carbon filters mount easily to Can-Fan and Max-Fan exhaust fans for long-lasting, consistent filtering performance with minimal resistance to cause airflow loss. Can-Lite fans and filters can be hung from grow tent supports or attached to solid surfaces in rooms with walls or ceilings.

The filter should be mounted on the intake side of the fan to remove contaminants before they reach the fan housing. Can-Lite filters come with pre-filters to keep dust, mold, and other particles from clogging the activated charcoal in the filter itself, so you should be pulling air through the filter rather than pushing air into it.

You may have both supply and exhaust fans, depending on the size of your grow operation. Even smaller rooms or tents that draw fresh air from the surrounding area may need an exhaust fan to carry away hot, stale air and an intake vent or fan to bring in fresh. Ideally, in an enclosed grow space the fresh air supply will be near the bottom of the area and the exhaust will be near the top. This takes advantage of the fact that hot air rises and cooler, denser air accumulates lower. As the warm, moist air is exhausted, fresh air will flow in across the plants to take its place.

It isn't necessary to have the air being pulled through the carbon filter exhausted outside your growing area; depending on your setup it may even work better to have the filtered air returned immediately to the growing area. This can be accomplished by mounting the carbon filter to the intake side of the fan with a rubber coupler or ducting and placing it inside the growing area without ducting the fan's output out of the grow. In this way, the carbon filter will continuously "scrub" the air in the growing area to remove odors.

Depending on your particular setup, fans and carbon filters can be attached to flexible ducting, rubber coupler, or rigid pipe, and can be mounted either inside or outside the grow area.

Can-Lite Carbon Filters are the highest-quality filters available and come in 4" and 6" duct sizes to match your ventilation needs; the filters are sized to fit the fans.

Black Dog LED has what it takes to make it easy for even inexperienced growers to get started. We offer individual grow lights, grow tents up to 10'x10', and grow room accessories like Can-Fans and Can-Lite filters, as well as complete grow room kits with footprints ranging from 2'x2½' to 9'x9'.

Our website has a comprehensive selection of products for all types and sizes of indoor growing operations. You'll also find plenty of information about the benefits of LED grow lighting, too. While you're here, take a look at our photo gallery to see for yourself the amazing results you can achieve with Phyto-Genesis Spectrum™ grow lights from Black Dog LED.