One more note on carbon filters
I will start off with a warming that I should have mentioned in the last post about carbon filters humidity KILLS carbon filters by making the carbon damp and ineffective. You want to keep the humidity low for the carbon filter but most plants will have leaf tips burn with humidity lower that 30%. The burnt tips won’t dramatically reduce growth but is a sure sign you are on the edge of a good growing environment.
While I am talking about carbon filters I should mention they can be used in two ways: either to clean ventilated air or to clean air that is circulated in the grow area. In the first method, garden air goes through the filter (and possibly through an air coolable reflector) and ventilates outside the grow room. It is basically a filter for your ventilation system. Another way is to use the carbon filter as a "scrubber" (how I use it) where the air is blown back over the plants which helps keep plants sturdy and allows them to maximize CO2 intake for maximum growth. This also gives the filter plenty of chances to remove any odor from the air. I do not have a problem with heat build up because I have a large grow area. If heat is a problem you may need to ventilate the hot air (Always vent from the top of the grow area where heat accumulates)
CO2 -- The scrubber method is good if you use CO2. It is good to have airflow in the grow area with CO2 because it is heavier than air and will accumulate on the floor unless you have some air flow to keep mixing your grow area atmosphere. If you are going to vent the hot air out and you are using CO2 it is imperative that you only run the ventilation fans when absolutely needed to not waste precious bottled CO2 gas. The CO2 should be turned off when the ventilation fans are on. If you are going to ventilate the air and use CO2 you will need a controller that only turns the ventilation fan on when the temperature/humidity gets too high. (HTGSupply.com sells those controllers and even a CO2 infrared sensor that turns off the CO2 once it reaches 1600 ppm). For questions about specific equipment you should send questions to the sales manager Perry at Sales@htgsupply.com
Good Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers
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