anyone buy activated carbon in bulk?

  • Thread starter oxanaca
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oxanaca

oxanaca

322
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hello im sick of overpaying for carbon. the last time i was in a hydro store one of the brain dead employees told me i had to throw my filter out and buy a brand new one. as the filter was of a packed bed design. fuck that ill put the filter on a christmas tree shaker and add the carbon little at a time until its full avoiding air spaces

so my question. has anyone ever bought a half ton or a ton of carbon before? im curious if anyone has any advice? what do you typicaly pay per #?

here is a list of suppliers for anyone interested. i havent yet called and am unsure of their minimums
http://www.thomasnet.com/products/activated-carbon-10660207-1.html
 
S

seebobsled

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I have gotten 50# bag of pore size 4×6 coconut husk. From the place in south California on the link. Works great. I diy my filter with HVAC duct pieces and hardwire with window screen. Also can wrap with a layer of poly fill on outside for dust filter.
 
oxanaca

oxanaca

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hey if you dont mind me asking what did they charge you with out any shipping per bag? im really hoping to get this stuff for under a dollar per pound shipped
 
SuperSilverHaze

SuperSilverHaze

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i have bought from a local supplier of commercial water purification systems like a culligan dealer. it was better than paying for shipping.
 
S

seebobsled

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98$ 50 lbs I believe it was. It filled my diy 12"dia 40" tall and a 10" dia 20" tall. Both have a 2 inch bed of 4×6 activated coconut carbon. And last well over 2 plus years. Water and air need different pore size to work long term. Diy filters fail early when using water filtration carbon like fish tank carbon. That is the usual problem most diyers that tryed and now say buy new premade filters from the hydro store. But that's my take of experience and intake of information I've found.
 
Distiller

Distiller

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I work with activated carbon every day....I felt I should chime in, as many do not know that carbon can be cleaned and reactivated easily ...we have been using the same carbon for years by using this simple method.... take your spent carbon and put it in a large stock pot full of boiling water...leave boil for an hour and a half to two hours ...have a sniff it it still smells give it a touch longer... After the boil spread the carbon on a cookie tray and place in an oven on high for another hour and a half.... Voila ! re activated carbon.
 
rubthe nub

rubthe nub

775
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I've always wanted to try zeolite
It can be recharged a few different ways
ie: NaCl bath, NaHCO3 bath, sunlight
Reasonably priced, pretty easy to find as well
 
H

happy b

Guest
You cant just use carbon for water purification in a carbon filter.you need the correct size of carbon which is the 4mm pellets i beleive.i looked into doing it though nower near as much as a half ton but it was going to work out roughly the same price as just buying brand new filters.that was in the uk though.
and i never liked the coco filters.i thought they were poor compared to carbon filters.
 
sedate

sedate

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oxanaca said:
hello im sick of overpaying for carbon. the last time i was in a hydro store one of the brain dead employees told me i had to throw my filter out and buy a brand new one. as the filter was of a packed bed design. fuck that ill put the filter on a christmas tree shaker and add the carbon little at a time until its full avoiding air spaces
Click to expand...

Ya so that really is not how these work. First off, you don't really indicate the size of the filter you are trying to repack or the size of the grow you are trying to control - but a new CAN150 should run something like $350 so I have no idea why you would work so hard to save $100 or $200.

Here, the hydrostore employee was correct.

From my thinking, if your grow is big enough, you shouldn't have a problem affording a proper filter - if it is small, then just buy a CAN66 or a CAN99 for $100 - $120 and be done with it.

Secondly, the "pack bed" design uses large presses to pack in carbon - christmas tree shaker sounds clever I guess but that is not going to repack your carbon filter with anything resembling smell control.

You are not going to save money doing this. You are going to spend several days jerking around with carbon dust and over-sized outdoor tools for a finished result that will not work properly.

Buy a CAN appropriately sized for you grow. Change the pre-filter every three months. No smell for years. This is not a device that requires any further maintence or replacement. If you are "overpaying" for carbon, then you are doing it wrong.
 
oxanaca

oxanaca

322
63
sedate said:
Ya so that really is not how these work. First off, you don't really indicate the size of the filter you are trying to repack or the size of the grow you are trying to control - but a new CAN150 should run something like $350 so I have no idea why you would work so hard to save $100 or $200.

Here, the hydrostore employee was correct.

From my thinking, if your grow is big enough, you shouldn't have a problem affording a proper filter - if it is small, then just buy a CAN66 or a CAN99 for $100 - $120 and be done with it.

Secondly, the "pack bed" design uses large presses to pack in carbon - christmas tree shaker sounds clever I guess but that is not going to repack your carbon filter with anything resembling smell control.

You are not going to save money doing this. You are going to spend several days jerking around with carbon dust and over-sized outdoor tools for a finished result that will not work properly.

Buy a CAN appropriately sized for you grow. Change the pre-filter every three months. No smell for years. This is not a device that requires any further maintence or replacement. If you are "overpaying" for carbon, then you are doing it wrong.
Click to expand...
Filled up my old scrubbers with some new carbon a few months ago, it had been about 2-2.5 years and was clearly time. it was pretty easy I just filled it up slow i dont think the granular carbon has air pocket issues like the pellet variety does(it packs really easy). I only use it for scrubbing applications and not exhaust so I don't think it's that big of a deal even if there were air pocketets.

Also i washed the dust from it with deionized water. And let it dry before packing.

I'm getting total odor control.

All in all it Definitely wasn't a lot of work, I definitely saved a lot of money and I didn't have to use any oversize tools, just a pop rivet gun and a drill
 
420circuit

420circuit

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I have been getting 30 # shipments from eBay seller, last order was about $56 iirc, drill and sheet metal screws, used a mallet to tap until settled and put a wrap of packing tape around the top, so when it settles more there won't be a gap. This is for a vertical install. I get about a year and am happy with the value of replacing it myself. General Carbon looks like the place to get a ton. Flakes designed for air filters is what I used, works great.
 
sedate

sedate

948
63
oxanaca said:
I only use it for scrubbing applications and not exhaust so I don't think it's that big of a deal even if there were air pocketets.
Click to expand...

I could see that being a consideration. I would be much more comfortable with a scrubbing application like this, sure.

oxanaca said:
I didn't have to use any oversize tools,
Click to expand...

You said christmas tree shaker. That would be oversized.

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=christmas+tree+shaker

oxanaca said:
I definitely saved a lot of money
Click to expand...

You saved like $100 - 200, minus whatever you are capable of making for whatever hour or two or three that took you. Not sure what qualifies as a lot of money to you, but as far as indoor-grow equipment goes, this is really minimal. I really would have just bought a new filter.

And in most situations I've seen smell control is a mission-critical parameter.

I mean I am glad you are happy with your results, but I'm not sure I would encourage others to do the same, especially if smell control is necessary for safety/security/landlords/HOA/neighbors/etc...
 
scoop

scoop

422
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It's easy to do...like 420 says. Been doing it for years. Still have the same "cans" (multiple filters/multiple brands) I had 10+ years ago. Mine are all inline filters except the small Phatties I've used in tents/etc.

To each their own.
 
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