[fred cook]

About 7 or 8 years ago, I changed my pool from using chlorine tablets to salt. Best thing I ever did for the pool. It makes for much easier pool maintenance. With a sand filter, my pool store recommends changing the sand every 5-6 years. Later, when I updated by pool cleaner hardware, I replaced the main pump also. This spring, I had just a hint of green (algae) that adding a couple of bags of shock took care of. The biggest ongoing problem we have with our pool is that we live in a farming community and there is a lot of dust in the air that seems to find it's way into the pool. Our pool is about 20 years old now and needs to have a fresh coat of cool deck applied. Oh, well, it's only money!