Carbon Scrubber not working.

[goathead666]

I built a carbon scrubber with instructions off of OG about 4 months ago and the damn thing doesn't seem to work very well. I have a 4" can fan pulling through it which is more than enough air, 178cfm. I know there are no leaks in the setup becasue I can feel it sucking through the filter. I have about 3lbs of activate carbon from the fish store in it and I'm assuming that would be enough. I only have no more than 3 plants going in the chamber at a time and the chamber is only 3'x3' pretty much air tight. How much carbon is needed, is the fan pulling air too fast to let the carbon do it's job??????

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[NiteTiger]

Just curious, did you wash the carbon before putting it in the filter? It can be extremely dirty in the bag/bucket, and AC works so well because it is so porous, with great surface area. If the pores are clogged with dust, and can reduce the effeciency of the carbon.

Also, was the carbon packed well? Friend of mine didn't pack the carbon in well, and when he mounted it, the carbon settled, leaving gaps.

 

[goathead666]

Good point, no I didn't wash it before I put it in. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to. I packed it in about as good as you could, no open spaces. Maybe I will double the clean carbon up and see what happens.

 

[minds_I]

Also, a dusty environment will decrease the life of AC.

minds_I

 

[macster]

I built the same filter off of instructions on OG but I used crystal cat litter and so far it works like a charm the litter is a lot cheaper
Mac

 

[BudGood2006]

Make sure to use a prefilter to prevent excess dust from clogging the AC. Cotton batting can be had from Walmart for 2-3 bucks. Wrap around and attach with tape and you are in business. This is a Hydrofarm carbon filter, but with a cotton batting prefilter (the hydro place wanted 40 for their prefilter! Screw that!!!).

 

[Kush King]

You gotta get polly in your room get it air tight staple it all up Get Tuck Tape and tape it onto the group AIRTIGHT! get a zipper door. AND when ur filter on ur zipper door and all the walls should be sucking in towards the room...

NOT: I can feel it sucking through the filter. all that meens is your fans good unof for the Carbon filter. If you gota door or closet or heat vents in the room DOPE SMELL CAN LINGER have fun gettin the smell under control...

budgoods got a good point about the cotten filters on the outside. i only used this filter stuff I found from home depot to keep the outside of my caron filter clean... Iv seen sum prity dirty filter.... probly slow the cfm getting threw abit thow....