Pool Question

Congrats on the pool. I wish I had the space and money to put one in. Until then I will have to resort to going to my Mom's house and using hers while dealing with her constant rambling and nagging (think Doris Roberts on Everybody Loves Raymond).

Onto your question: I have not used either ozone or salt so I cannot answer questions on them, but I have heard that the ozone system is pricey and not as efficient as chemical systems. Also if you have to replace parts it could be expensive. I would use that as more of an add on to supplement a chemical system and not have as high chem levels. With the salt water, do you really want to taste salt water every time you swim? And getting out of them the water dries off but the salt stays on your body. I hate that feeling. The best chemical system that I had to maintain and use was a bromine system. Its not as harsh as cholrine ( when it comes to the eyes and human skin irritations) and does not have to be filled as often as cholrine. I'm not sure how it compares price wise.

For the dirt filtration, I would go with a sand filter. It does not have to be repacked constantly like the DE, and I cannot see a cartiridge filter keeping up with a large pool like an inground. Just think about the cartidge filters in your fish tanks, then think about using that on a pool. It just does not make sense to me.

So in conclusion: I recommend bromine to kill the little buggies and sand for the filter.

Also: make sure to keep you total alkalinity up to the proper levels. Without it your clrine or bromine levels will go out of balance very quickly and you will be adding new stuff constantly. And use baking soda to keep it up, not the stuff they charge 5-10 times as much in the pool store (rip off :argh

At 600 that is not too bad of a price. So you still need to have some chems if I'm understanding your post correctly? It been a long time since I have had to deal with that stuff. My dad takles care of their pool, but when I was living in their house right after college it was my job to take care of it. I also was a life guard at a couple of pools and was also in charge of the maintance while there, but that was 11 years ago (Damn, now I feel old).

What are you doing for the filtration?