My DIY carbon filter/scrubber for 16$

Tomula

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone.
I know, the smell, it's nice, it's great. But if you need to hide it and do not have the money for some nice and shiny carbon filter, you can get inspiration from mine- ugly and not so shiny- but definitely working one. It has very low drag and I have tested it with strong perfume and cannabis odor. I do only have a few photos of the making, but it is quite simple. But beware as the amount of the coal depends on the size of grain and filter, I say buy more as you can always use the rest later plus it is pretty cheap. This unit had cost me 16 dollars. I had the shirt, zip tie, tapes at home.

You will need:
Chicken netting
Duct/pipe you want your filter on
Aluminium/duck tape, optional- hot glue
Old T-shirt (or any piece of cloth)
Zip tie/s, string
Two women's stockings
Funnel and a stick that fits in it (dull, will get dirty)
Active coal- I got mine on-line from a pet shop about 3 liters (0,8 gallons)

Here is cutout of the final product:
Filter28.jpg


And from outside:
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Ok, now steps, how I made it.
1.: Choose the length of your filter (mine was 1 ft)
2.: Measure your pipe. Usually it is 5 inches (125mm). Add 2 inches to that measurement, we will use it in step 4.
3.: Using the netting, make a cylinder that fits in your pipe.
4.: Make a second one, 2 inches bigger- see 2.
5.: Remove/cover any sharp edges of the netting in tape or glue, so that the stocking will not get damaged.
6.: Make bottoms for your cylinders and cover the sharp edges again:
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7.: Now take the stockings and cut legs off. Put the cylinders in the leg. Tight the end of the leg on the very outside:

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8.: Filling the coal. The coal is very dark and dirty, do this outside- you have been warned. Put one stocking inside the big cylinder and put little less than inch of it in press down with the smaller one, repeat until it is about an inch high. Now center the small cylinder in the big one, put something heavy in, or get help, I got helped by my brother. This is the tricky one. Use the funnel and stick to evenly distribute the coal. Do not fill up all the way.
9.: Stick your tube in. Look at the cutout scheme. Fill the top of filter with the cloth and secure with zip tie. Wrap the end around in tape.

That should be all, hope this helps. If I make a new one I will definitely take more pictures and improvements.
Happy and easy growing.
Tomula
:Namaste:
 
I really like this idea as 2 I am needing a carbon scrubber soon I glad I found this does it work gud for removing the smell??

It worked quite well in my 2x2x6 room. No smell at all, now it is like 2 years old. Used only on one grow with 100% success but now it leaks some smell a bit. But that is to be expected after 2 years. The coal needs to be replaced. Hope it helped, cheers and happy growing! :Love: :Namaste:
 
It worked quite well in my 2x2x6 room. No smell at all, now it is like 2 years old. Used only on one grow with 100% success but now it leaks some smell a bit. But that is to be expected after 2 years. The coal needs to be replaced. Hope it helped, cheers and happy growing! :Love: :Namaste:

FYI - Activated carbon/coal can be re-activated by washing and and then baking in oven at 200F. This opens up all the cracks and pores that trap odors and you can use it again.
 
FYI - Activated carbon/coal can be re-activated by washing and and then baking in oven at 200F. This opens up all the cracks and pores that trap odors and you can use it again.

Great info, thanks man! The one I have used was fine. I worry I will break it even more and it can get through the netting and cause some major blackness to everything it touches. There is granulated coal ctc 70 used in industrial filters which I recommend. I'm pretty broke so no new filter now but I'm getting there (and the old one isn't that bad). Thanks again! Cheers!:Love: :Namaste:
 
Here are more pictures, I did refill it with granulated coal which I will reactivate and reuse, thanks KingstonRabbi for suggestion, I like it! The fans got some fine dust on them but nothing major. Make sure you pack it even and light socks are good to see the coal lever against light. Around 2,5 kg (90 ounces) was used today. Cheers! :Love: :Namaste:

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Hello, so I have the filter installed now and it doesn't work good with the pebbles. The finer coal that was there before worked much better. It might be that the air gets through it very easily now. Or the amount of smell is now super high with the Herers, damn amazing though. I do not recommend the pebbles until I work something out. Gonna get the fine coal again. Or crush the pebbles some... Thank you! Cheers! :Love: :Namaste:
 

Thank you man! :thanks:

could aquarium activated carbon work for odor control ? and diy carbon filter or just coals are fine

Originally I used coal for aquarium, those pieces were like 1/6'' (3-4mm) big and worked fine. I got 4 flowers now and using ctc 70 coal and it just is not enough usable surface to catch all the smell. So smaller pieces catch the odor better. :thumb: :Love: :Namaste:
 
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