swampman, in fairness and full disclosure I do NOW use 6" carbon scrubbers in both tents on top of the ONA
I don't think ONA by itself would be enough for larger size tents (at least for the sizes I have tried, they make it in gallon sizes and bigger I believe
but I do firmly believe it could hold it's own in small enclosures if you didn't want to use a scrubber for some reason. I simply say that from growing some big stinky buds in there with that exact setup. No one is disputing the effectiveness of carbon scrubbers, they work amazing with my tents, but not even a 6" carbon scrubber with a 400 CFM fan alone can control the smell of my big tent sometimes. It's not that it floods the house with cannabis, but I don't want to go into my laundry room and smell strong weed (as good as it smells.) Also consider power outages, tripping breakers, the possibility of having dirty power lines, etc. I've had a few power outages so far and when those scrubbers and fans stop working, it turns into strong odors very quickly. So I take the extra step. Everyone's situation is different, but his situation is an apartment. As you say, it's a BALLSY move. I personally wouldn't do more than 1 or 2 small plants if it were me personally. I had 3 photos and 1 auto in a tent and that's all at one point in time, and a few minutes with the tent flap open while working on some stuff caused my ENTIRE HOUSE, upstairs and down, to reek like pot. Not smoked pot, GROWING pot. Amendment64, that's something you need to consider when you start planting your buds.
Also, ONA is non-toxic. There are no toxins being released into the air. It works by absorbing the VOC's of organic and inorganic molecules. They have a product sheet on their website with loads of information about it. You should give it a look so I can rest peacefully knowing you at least have the proper information at hand
Is ONA cost effective? $20 per month, looking at at least $40-60 for the odor control in a smaller tent if you're doing autos. A 6" carbon scrubber is about $60 on amazon.com, not including the cost of a 400+ CFM fan. You can get a 4" carbon scrubber + 190 CFM 4" centrigual fan for about $110 online. Or you can get creative and get combinations of fans. For a small tent, a 4" carbon scrubber should be more than effective. I have a 6" carbon scrubber on my small tent now too and I probably wouldn't need the ONA, but I can $20/month = peace of mind and a good nights sleep for me, so it's worth it for this guy. Depends a lot on your budget. You need to factor airflow into your budget already, so you could get a carbon scrubber and fan combo and have your smell and exhaust covered. You could try passive air or get a cheap inline can with a CFM rated lower than your exhaust fan for under $30 and you'd have your smell control pretty well covered, air intake and exhaust covered, and you would create negative air pressure, which (if using a tent) would suck in the walls a little bit, pulling more air through the exhaust port (to or from the scrubber, depending on your setup.) This creates suction inside the tent, so the smells and odors floating through the air are less likely to escape through other exits and more likely to go where you want them to go. I would say if you're going to be growing more than 1 grow, get yourself a scrubber for sure if it's feasible to do so with your wallet and your apartment. If you have the cash, get BOTH. There is no folly in taking an extra step to make sure you are covered.
Something to consider with carbon scrubbers is the CFM rated fan that it takes to push or pull the air into it. 400 CFM is noticeably loud. I have two 400 CFM's in my basement and there's a noticeable whir from two rooms away at the top of basement stairs. Keep into consideration the extra noise fans could create in your apartment. Wouldn't take long to piece together the smell of pot and the sound of whirring fans what was going on in there. Nobody vacuums their apartment 18 hours a day
haha!
Something to bear in mind as well, and you'll be able to tell us this more than anyone as you live there, but it's been in my past experiences of working flooring installation, most apartments are designed to mirror each other for maximum space efficiency. Unless your closet faces an exterior wall, you may be VERY close in proximity to someone elses closet or your hallway. Again, not sure if your setup, but consider that if yours is similar. Again, there is very little insulation on those interior walls compared to the exterior walls.
