Confirmed, my system does have pre/post charcoal. Good to know.
In our case (with the distillers) itās a post filter.
My question was āif putting RO through distiller, would one need to pre-carbon filter?ā think I misunderstood what the purpose was. So the distiller will have a carbon filter that water runs through after the distilling process has taken place?
Thatās right, itās just a post filter to clean up the cooled steam.
If youāre already using RO water thereās not much reason to distill it unless the RO system isnāt functioning correctly (and even then itād be a strange way to deal with that issue).
First off, I am closer to strange than normal 
. Second, I have read that RO water is in need of ābufferingā in order to prevent it from leaching nutrients from your plant. Thus I switched over to distilled as it does not require said buffering (it is the better option) and ordered a countertop water distiller. Was mainly inquiring because I thought the carbon filtering took place prior to distilling and thus I was wondering if the RO would suffice as pre-filtration. (I now know this to be completely irrelevant )
My goal is absolute perfection in terms of my gear/grow set-up, that has become the main focus here. The 
buds will just be an awesome side benefit .
I am curious to know if it makes much difference in your case. I still need to add cal/mag into my distilled water afterward. If itās been distilled (well) then the grobo will sense that (by the TDS/EC being at or near 0) and will still buffer with cal/mag (bottle #5). So there really shouldnāt be much difference observed between the two, theoretically.
There may be differences in starting pH but Iām pretty sure thatās more dependent on the source of the water than if it was distilled or RO; both achieve a similar result but in different ways. Iām sure the configuration, health, and quality of equipment used also plays a role.
What Iāve gathered (about buffering) can be summed as:
The way that itās handled in hydroponics is by adding cal/mag (primarily) and then the other nutrients/silica/etc compliment that. Making sure enough is present is the trick, and being certain on what is (and isnāt) present is most preferable.
When using RO water with 2-step or 3-step nutrients and without adding any cal/mag is where buffering issues seem to arise, at least from what Iāve noticed in posts/etc. I donāt use RO myself, due to the faucet adapter issue, but have looked into it a bit.
Some people will just add some tap water (up to 20%) back in or find other creative ways to buffer.
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This is why it says champion under your name. 
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First thing - thank you for the tip to use hot water! I had been using cold water to try to minimize the buildup of deposits in the boiler, but it still gets pretty caked regardless. Iāve been using hot water for the past couple days and it runs so much faster!!
About cleaning with vinegar instead of descaling solution ā do you run the machine with the vinegar to push it through the top or just let it sit with the unit off to loosen up the stuff in the boiler?
Edit: scratch that last question, bad idea as itāll eat away at the metal from the acids becoming corrosive at higher temps.
Good to hear! Hot tap water really speeds it up
The vinegar, I just fill about inch in bottom
Of unit, and let it sit for couple hours - Comes out brand new looking. Donāt turn the machine on
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If you have any citric acid you can use that as a descaler. Most of the stuff you see on the market for descaling water distillers contain citric acid.
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My distiller came in today, looking forward to not buying jugs at the store anymore haha. Going to run RO water through it, believe this should produce chloramine free distilled water. Just did initial cleaning protocol will run my first batch tomorrow and post review here.
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So Iāve been using this countertop distiller from H2OLabs for the past 10 days (1 water change and 3 top-offs) and I have to say I am pretty pleased with it. Iām running RO water through it, not sure if this helps with anything but I have the countertop RO as well so I figured why the hell not (any water experts care to weigh in on this, Iād appreciate it). It requires an infrared material prefilter and a carbon post filter that last 6 months and 1 month respectively, the replacements are inexpensive and they ship quickly. It takes about 4 hours to make a gallon. Itās simple to operate, has a more than decent cooling fan, very easy to disassemble/clean/reassemble. Water reads 0 on PPM and TDS. All in all, if youāre looking for a countertop distiller, I recommend this one.
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Itās been close to 10 years since I was doing water sanitation testing, but from what I recall RO and distilled water are not much different. The only difference between RO and distilled is some RO systems re-add the minerals the RO membrane removed.
I was going to write a thesis, but I found a good article that explains it. @SWSVIC if your RO doesnāt re-add the minerals youāre basically distilling water that already had everything removed by the RO.
Little overkill.
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Iām sure it is overkill haha but I already have the equipment and years worth of replacement filters so I figured why the hell not haha. If it only makes cleaning/maintaining the distiller a bit easier thatās worth it to me haha. I believe I read somewhere that distilling does not remove chloramine from tap water but RO does. Thus I figured if I run the RO and then Distill Iād be in the best shape as far as water is concerned. 
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True, but if you filter the distilled water through a carbon filter it will remove some of it.
If I had both RO and a distiller Iād stick to RO. Running a distiller can be expensive due to the electricity it requires. But thatās me.
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Found your review! 
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@swsvic how you liking this water distiller ā¦Iām looking for one just wanted to know if your happy with this model or if I should upgrade to the higher model?
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Hey Manny, I really like it! Have been using it with minimal maintenance for nearly a year and I have no complaints. The compact size is perfect and cleaning the system is simple. I use the water for our saltwater aquarium as well so sheās working double time.
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I know this is in older topic, but a friend just gave me this and supposed to distill a couple gallons a day if you need to. I only have 1 Grobo, so I bought 2 buckets and going to try this. I first filtered the water with the filter next to it. Not sure I need to, just did this time trying it.
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This works well, just ran the first batch thru to clean it and make another gallon to use. It makes 1 gallon at a time which is good for just 1 Grobo. The only downside is it heats up the room a little. 
I might move it down to the basement still debating.
Do you think I have to filter the water first or just start with tap? I did filter it first then distilled it only not sure it matters.
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