Carbon filter on intake

[Tal420]

Hello friends!

I'm setting up a new 5x5 tent and for intake I'm using a 100mm inline fan.

I happened to have a spare new 125mm carbon filter and I decided to place it outside the tent and use it to filter the air going into the tent.

Now I'm having second thoughts on whether it is actually good for the plants to feed them air through a carbon filter.

Any thoughts please if I should leave it or remove it?

 

[Tal420]

 

[Phytoplankton]

It won't hurt anything, but a common cloth filter or foam filter will do the same thing, much more cheaply. I'd hang on to the extra filter as an emergency spare, nothing worse than having your carbon filter fail, and having to wait several days for a new one to arrive, all the while your stealth garage/closet grow is detectable by anyone with a nose! (ask me how I know)

 

[Tokin Roll]

How is it going @Tal420

I don't personally know anyone that filters there intake air.
Most grower just tape it to the exhaust fan intake, or is that what you mean?

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,
Tok..

 

[bluter]

it's not going to add anything but resistance on the fan.
some guys use a furnace type filter or other less obstructive filter just to combat dust etc. and keep mites out.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I've been using a 6" Intake Fan & Filter for years with no problem. If you have your Intake & Exhaust running on a lower setting it circulates the air well & helps cool the tent a little. I usually use an old intake filter as it's mainly just to keep dust & things out. It's not there for odor control as is the exhaust filter which I change every 3 grows.

 

[Braddah Waiheesohai]

It's VERY dusty and buggy where I live and I'm pulling in air from outside so I run a carbon filter on the intake.

If I was pulling air from a lung room in a finished house Ild do as suggested above and just use a basic dust filter, and passive intake to save on electric.

 

[Icemud]

Hello friends!

I'm setting up a new 5x5 tent and for intake I'm using a 100mm inline fan.

I happened to have a spare new 125mm carbon filter and I decided to place it outside the tent and use it to filter the air going into the tent.

Now I'm having second thoughts on whether it is actually good for the plants to feed them air through a carbon filter.

Any thoughts please if I should leave it or remove it?

I agree with the other posts....

I wouldn't use the intake fan as you will have negative pressure pulling air into the tent, so the intake fan is really unneeded and will save you electricity if you remove it.

As for the carbon filter I also agree with the others, just save it for an extra for when your other one wears out.

You can also use the extra fan and the carbon filter when it comes time to dry, where the room may get extra stinky. I generally dry in my grow tent, but also have used a cardboard wardrobe moving box and a fan/filter combo too.

 

[Tal420]

I agree with the other posts....

I wouldn't use the intake fan as you will have negative pressure pulling air into the tent, so the intake fan is really unneeded and will save you electricity if you remove it.

As for the carbon filter I also agree with the others, just save it for an extra for when your other one wears out.

You can also use the extra fan and the carbon filter when it comes time to dry, where the room may get extra stinky. I generally dry in my grow tent, but also have used a cardboard wardrobe moving box and a fan/filter combo too.

Thanks for your detailed answer.

I have a 402cfm exhaust so I thought that an approx 100cfm intake should balance pressure well.

I mainly use intake for cooling purposes as it can get quite hot in Summer in this part of the world

 

[Icemud]

Thanks for your detailed answer.

I have a 402cfm exhaust so I thought that an approx 100cfm intake should balance pressure well.

I mainly use intake for cooling purposes as it can get quite hot in Summer in this part of the world

You are welcome

As a suggestion.....
I don't have AC, and summers indeed can be hot... I generally run my lights during night and morning hours and off during the hot "peak hours" of the day which significantly helps... (also cheaper on my electric bill with peak hour discounts)

So my veg tent usually will come on around 9pm and go off 18 hours later around 3pm which is right around the time my place starts heating up. The plants sleep from 3pm to 9pm when the day is the hottest.

Hope this tip might help with those summer hot days

 

[Tal420]

It won't hurt anything, but a common cloth filter or foam filter will do the same thing, much more cheaply. I'd hang on to the extra filter as an emergency spare, nothing worse than having your carbon filter fail, and having to wait several days for a new one to arrive, all the while your stealth garage/closet grow is detectable by anyone with a nose! (ask me how I know)

Yes I know what you mean My exhaust carbon filter is 150mm though, so this one I'm thinking of using for intake does not fit.

 

[Tal420]

How is it going @Tal420

I don't personally know anyone that filters there intake air.
Most grower just tape it to the exhaust fan intake, or is that what you mean?

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,
Tok..

Thanks mate, yes I never filtered the intake either tbh.

But seeing the condition of my old intake fan, I thought putting a filter can only help air quality.

My only concern is whether this will harm the plants by removing anything essential when passing air through charcoal.

 

[Tal420]

You are welcome

As a suggestion.....
I don't have AC, and summers indeed can be hot... I generally run my lights during night and morning hours and off during the hot "peak hours" of the day which significantly helps... (also cheaper on my electric bill with peak hour discounts)

So my veg tent usually will come on around 9pm and go off 18 hours later around 3pm which is right around the time my place starts heating up. The plants sleep from 3pm to 9pm when the day is the hottest.

Hope this tip might help with those summer hot days

In my old tent (4x2) I had 400W HPS and used to run my 12/12 from 5pm to 5am as well. Now I will be using LEDs in the new tent, so hopefully this will also help reducing heat in the coming months

 

[SmokingWings]

But seeing the condition of my old intake fan, I thought putting a filter can only help air quality.

While that is true it would be better in the long run to replace the old intake fan unless you meant the old filter. Old fans can start to get loud, or can make ticking noises as bearings start to wear down, can speed up or slow down and become less effective in pushing or pulling air.

Old filters just do not filter as well anymore so they have to be replaced otherwise they eventually do not filter anything anymore.

My only concern is whether this will harm the plants by removing anything essential when passing air through charcoal.

Good fresh carbon filters will remove the odor that people notice. Carbon filters also remove some impurities or pollutants but removing them before the air goes into the tent is not going to make a difference.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I agree with the other posts....

I wouldn't use the intake fan as you will have negative pressure pulling air into the tent, so the intake fan is really unneeded and will save you electricity if you remove it.

As for the carbon filter I also agree with the others, just save it for an extra for when your other one wears out.

You can also use the extra fan and the carbon filter when it comes time to dry, where the room may get extra stinky. I generally dry in my grow tent, but also have used a cardboard wardrobe moving box and a fan/filter combo too.

Think about this a minute. When you only run exhaust your tent gets sucked in. When you run Intake & exhaust at the same time you can balance the airflow & your tent does not get sucked in. This is actually the whole reason I started using an intake. It does work very well & I doubt it costs me more than a couple dollars a month to run it. It also helps with air exchange bringing fresh Co2 into the tent continuously. Kind of a plus to me.
Of course we all have our own way of doing things. I just happen to feel it's beneficial so I use one.

 

[Tal420]

While that is true it would be better in the long run to replace the old intake fan unless you meant the old filter. Old fans can start to get loud, or can make ticking noises as bearings start to wear down, can speed up or slow down and become less effective in pushing or pulling air.

Old filters just do not filter as well anymore so they have to be replaced otherwise they eventually do not filter anything anymore.


Good fresh carbon filters will remove the odor that people notice. Carbon filters also remove some impurities or pollutants but removing them before the air goes into the tent is not going to make a difference.

Thanks mate. I guess since it's brand new and don't have much use for it, I will leave it there until it needs replacing. At that point I will look for a cheaper alternative, because I agree that carbon filter may be a bit of an overkill on intake.

It seems from the responses here that the plants will be just fine, which is obviously my biggest concern

Meanwhile it's also serving as a stand to keep the fan out of the tent

 

[Tal420]

Think about this a minute. When you only run exhaust your tent gets sucked in. When you run Intake & exhaust at the same time you can balance the airflow & your tent does not get sucked in. This is actually the whole reason I started using an intake. It does work very well & I doubt it costs me more than a couple dollars a month to run it. It also helps with air exchange bringing fresh Co2 into the tent continuously. Kind of a plus to me.
Of course we all have our own way of doing things. I just happen to feel it's beneficial so I use one.

I saw a couple of your grow journals and it doesn't look like the intake filter did any harm to your plants

Re negative pressure and tents sucking in, I also prefer to keep the tent vents closed, again for cleanliness purposes, so in my case an intake fan helps keep the pressure balance you mentioned.