Question on mounting an inline fan/carbon filter

I am getting ready to buy a 6" carbon filter with an inline fan to be placed into a 3x3x5' grow tent. It doesn't come with any mounting brackets, so I was wondering what is the best way to mount this in the top of my tent?

Pics of your set-up would be great. All help is appreciated.

i mount my fan outside the tent, and the filter inside strapped to the top... heres a pic of the outside:

6" might be a little big for your needs, but better to have something to grow into, right? is your hood also air cooled?

I am looking for a bracket exactly like that for my fan. Did that come with your fan or did you pick it up somewhere?

I don't have an air cooled hood, just open air...Why do you think a 6" carbon filter/fan would be too big? I originally was going to go with a 4", but was talked out of it by most of the people here on RIU. Any suggestions is appreciated.

6 inch fan is what, like 300 CFM or something? They say that the goal is to be able to replace your grow rooms air every 5 minutes. A 3 x 3 x 5 foot tent is 45 cubic feet. Figure the carbon filter reduces the output of your fan a bit and so will any ducting (turns, length, etc.) so it seems with a 300 CFM fan you're still overshooting it. Plus if your tent is anything like mine you have 4 inch openings for exhaust/intake. I myself use a 4 inch inline fan and use one of the reducers so I'm actually only using about 75% of it.

As far as set up goes with mine, in order to maximize my vertical space I strapped my carbon filter to one of the side brackets (making it flush with the ceiling and wall). I then ducted it to the ceiling exhaust (roughly 12 inches of ducting used) and placed my fan on top of the tent itself. No brackets needed and minimal ducting. It does run a bit loud however but I gained quite a bit of vertical room being able to move my light further up.

Yikes...Now I am even more confused than ever. I was planning on buying this carbon filter/fan:
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-6in-Inline-Fan-&-Charcoal-Filter-Combo.asp

And pairing it with this controller:
http://aeroponicsnmore.com/climate-control-ventilation-c-23_5/temp-2v-fan-speed-control-variable-idle-setpoint-p-181

But are you guys saying to go with a 6" carbon filter, use a 4" duct reducer and a 4" inline fan?

Any of the options will work. A 4" fan and filter combo are fine. A 6" fan and filter combo might be a bit overkill but I personally would go this route just in case I ever want to upgrade my set-up later. I'm actually running a 6" fan and a 4" carbon filter and it seems to be working out well for my 4x4 tent - fan remains at damn near it's idle speed which helps keeps the sound down.

Why not go with a 4 inch filter/fan combo? The one I saw on HTG site was a combo 170 cfm fan/filter for a buck twenty. It's basically the same combo I had for my 3 x 3 tent and I felt that running it at full speed was overkill so I purchased a $30 speed reducer and set it on @ 75% and I still feel it's doing the job (negative pressure).

Thanks guys. I probably won't be upgrading my tent for at least a year or two, so I think I will go with the HTG 4" carbon fan/filter...It will save me some money too.

Could you give me some ideas of mounting it in my tent?

Well you could do it like I did which gave me more room to move my light up.

I strapped the carbon filter flush with the ceiling and the wall with the hole facing the exhaust tent in the ceiling. I taped about a foot of ducting to it and had the ducting go over and up into the ceiling vent. I placed my fan on top of the ceiling (no brackets or mounting) and taped the ducting to it. As I stated before, it's a bit louder than if I had it in the tent but it gave me much more room to manage my reflector.

Excellent idea. Putting the fan outside the tent will give me much more room. Great idea.

I am using a 4" fan and phresh filter in my flower box I have them both suspended by bungee cords it reduces the vibration noise.
In my veg box I have another 4" fan and an odor sok.

Put your carbon filter outside the tent on the floor. Mount your fan on top of the filter so it is blowing
into the filter and run your duct to your tent where ever you want to suck the air from.

webfoot said:

Put your carbon filter outside the tent on the floor. Mount your fan on top of the filter so it is blowing
into the filter and run your duct to your tent where ever you want to suck the air from.

Click to expand...

i really want to know if you can do this too for i think this is the best way for space

Most filters are designed to pull air through them and not push air.
Also the more ducting you have the less efficient the filter will be.

I would leave the filter inside the grow area as Kevin said. Also the 6' in gives you the option to upgrade to a aircooled hood later, while i don't think the 4' will cut it. Overkill with exhaust is good. The only downside is that the 6' set up will be bigger and make more noise (a reason I would leave the fan in the grow area if you can). This is assuming you can make it all fit.

As far as mounting, take some pics of the top of the tent there are many ways to mount a filter. The filter is where the exhaust will go, so that needs to be up high...the fan can go anywhere. However, as someone mentioned, you want as little ducting with as little bends as possible.

KevinSmith said:

Most filters are designed to pull air through them and not push air.
Also the more ducting you have the less efficient the filter will be.

Click to expand...

MrDank007 said:

I would leave the filter inside the grow area as Kevin said. Also the 6' in gives you the option to upgrade to a aircooled hood later, while i don't think the 4' will cut it. Overkill with exhaust is good. The only downside is that the 6' set up will be bigger and make more noise (a reason I would leave the fan in the grow area if you can). This is assuming you can make it all fit.

As far as mounting, take some pics of the top of the tent there are many ways to mount a filter. The filter is where the exhaust will go, so that needs to be up high...the fan can go anywhere. However, as someone mentioned, you want as little ducting with as little bends as possible.

Click to expand...

I think I might just go with the 6" carbon filter/fan if you guys don't think it's overkill for my tent (3x3x5').

As far as mounting that beast, I am still confused. I am thinking of different ideas of how to fit in my tent.

It won't be overkill in terms of exhaust. I would get it given you can figure out the space requirements. I have a wardrobe, so my set up won't work for you.

I can tell you the following based on my experience. I got a 4 in can fan/filter for exhaust. Barebulbing got too hot. Went to cool tube. 4 in exhausting hooked to cool tube...too hot. Now I have the 4in can fan/filter for exhaust and a separate 6in inline fan just to for the cool tube. I ended up spending more on redundancy...so in my mind it's best to hedge.

I would suggest getting some pics of the inside of the tent so we can look at the supports. You may be able to just bungee it to a PVC rod.

I've set-up fans blowing through filters and it does work but it is not ideal. Mounting a filter is pretty easy - just get some rope and tie it up - doesn't need to be pretty or anything just functional. I would put filter in the tent up at the top, fan out side of the tent.

Ugly but functional:

This ain't cribs! The plants look good and that's all that matters right?

MrDank007 said:

It won't be overkill in terms of exhaust. I would get it given you can figure out the space requirements. I have a wardrobe, so my set up won't work for you.

I can tell you the following based on my experience. I got a 4 in can fan/filter for exhaust. Barebulbing got too hot. Went to cool tube. 4 in exhausting hooked to cool tube...too hot. Now I have the 4in can fan/filter for exhaust and a separate 6in inline fan just to for the cool tube. I ended up spending more on redundancy...so in my mind it's best to hedge.

I would suggest getting some pics of the inside of the tent so we can look at the supports. You may be able to just bungee it to a PVC rod.

Click to expand...

I don't have the tent or equipment yet, so I can't post a pic. I am planning on ordering my grow room and all equipment this week, but before I do, I want to make sure that I am not making any costly mistakes, as you said. I really wanted some feedback on my size of tent and pairing it with a 6" carbon filter/fan and to see how other people have mounted their carbon filter.

Gastanker said:

I've set-up fans blowing through filters and it does work but it not ideal. Mounting a filter is pretty easy - just get some rope and tie it up - doesn't need to be pretty or anything just functional. I would put filter in the tent up at the top, fan out side of the tent.

Click to expand...

Okay, great guys. I will go with the 6" carbon filter/fan. Thanks much for the pic Gastanker. That really helps give me an idea of what the final set-up should look like.