I realize that the old saying "you get what you pay for" still stands strong but I still want to ask as far as lets say a 50-75$ carbon scrub vs a DIY carbon scrub that lets say is around $30 finished would the DIY scrub stand up against the other scrub?
I'm about to go to the store to buy some more carbon to finish mine off, but I just started flowering my plants and they don't stink yet. I'll find out soon enough how well it will work
For something as simple as a carbon scubber I wouldn't think there would be a huge difference in a commercial one and a DIY one.
As long as the airflow through the scrubber is "scrubbed" by the activated carbon granules effectively, a DIY scrubber is a great and economical way to control odor in your grow space. There cannot be any holes or gaps that allow "unscrubbed"air to pass through, or you will defeat the purpose. There are a couple of good DIY threads on here, and if you are handy, you can save a bunch of money to get the same effects as a store-bought one.
Like I said I won't know how well it works for another few weeks. One thing I think is different, at least from the ones I see in the hydro store, is that the carbon in this DIY filter is not as thick. From what I remember seeing on the retail ones is that the open core part is smaller. Not completely sure as I didn't even look at them closely. It took ~3 1/2 9oz jars of carbon from WalMart to fill this one (~$5 each). Everything all totaled up, maybe $40. One advantage of the DIY is that you can make it however big or small you need. I could have made this one 3' tall but I'm not sure it would be necessary for the small space and only 4 plants. You can also refill it pretty easily, take the end cap off and dump the carbon out, then put more in, replace the cap and you're set. I'll make a post in a few weeks about how well it's doing (or not). If it doesn't work then I'll just bite the bullet and buy the pro one. Doesn't hurt to try this, at worst I'm out $40