A grow room is a hugely useful apparatus when it comes to hydroponic gardening. These rooms, usually constructed using grow tents, require strong ventilation in order to keep plants healthy and fresh, but also to regulate the odours that may gather as a result of the raw nutrient material used in hydroponics. What exactly are these filters? How do they work? Which one should you get? Don’t worry, we’re here to help you out.

You may be wondering if Carbon Filters are necessary? The short answer is “yes”. The long answer is:
Plants breathe, just like us – but they breathe carbon dioxide and “exhale” oxygen. So, what happens when several plants are in a tight, enclosed space with no ventilation? They breathe all the carbon dioxide until they eventually suffocate. A grow tent without any means of ventilation will soon become an environment that has no carbon dioxide, and the same thing that would happen to us in an environment with no oxygen, will happen to your precious plants.

“Can’t I just open the tent?” Theoretically, yes, but once again there’s complications involved. You see, even with the tent flap open, there’s still chemical reactions happening in the water and greenery of your hydroponic garden. There are numerous constant chemical reactions happening. In such a reactive environment there’s a very common biproduct – fumes. The fumes from the raw nutrients as well as the plants themselves can create some very unpleasant odours, and some can even be toxic. It’s not a good idea to have that leeching into your home.

This is the reason that many indoor hydroponic gardeners use carbon filters for grow tents, it gives you all the benefits of an indoor grow space, while providing a sustainable substitute for the outdoor properties that allow plants to grow.

Depending on your skills of deduction, it may shock you to learn that carbon filters actually have carbon in them. Importantly – they have activated carbon. When carbon becomes “activated” it expands, increasing its surface area and making it more porous and airier.

This expanded surface area makes activated carbon the perfect medium for absorption – the process of catching molecules in the air.

Carbon filters act like a vacuum, using an exhaust fan to inhale contaminated air. On this inhale, the particles that cause odours and toxicity are caught by and cling to the activated carbon. From here, the clean air can either be redirected back into the tent – or a second exhaust fan can draw in clean air from the surrounding environment while the first one just simply expels the air out into the world.

It’s possible to buy carbon filters online right here at Benchmark Hydroponics! Although buying online is convenient, it could be worth checking out our storefronts, offering equipment for hydroponics in Adelaide, Melbourne, and (coming soon) Sydney!

Contact us here or call (03) 9570 8213 to find out more!