Very new Need recommendations

[woodbone]

My first pool. I live in Pa. Pittsburgh area. Just bought brand new 24 round by 52 deep above ground pool and package, salt water compatible.
150sf cartage filter 2 speed pump, Jacuzzi. comes with pristine blue or pool frog leap system. Reading lots of bad reviews abound sanitation issues with those two choices, what is recommended way to go, maybe saltwater, any thoughts? Want to start off right. Pool is not delivered or setup yet.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! We never recommend Pristine or Frog systems as they add metals to the water which can be disasterous later. Chlorine is a pool's best sanitizer. You can add chlorine manually by adding liquid chlorine or investing in a salt water generator (SWG) which uses salt in the water to produce chlorine. Of course there are tablets and granular/powder products, but those have short-term uses due to side effects. Adding liquid or using an SWG are your best options.

See our Pool Care Basics page for lots of great info to help get you started. Enjoy the forum.

 

[Mdragger88]

Welcome to tfp
You are correct about those systems- definitely not recommended as @Texas Splash pointed out.
Adequate free chlorine levels are all you need for a sanitary, clean, clear pool- not magic potions
The two TFP recommended methods of daily chlorination are manually dosing with liquid chlorine or using a salt water chlorine generator to dose the pool for you.
If you wish to go the salt water chlorine generator route you’ll want to get one that is rated for at least 2x’s your pool’s volume.
That size pool’s volume is roughly 13.5k gallons so a 30k gallon rated swg or larger would fit the bill.
A swg’s rating is based on it running at full power all the time. Using one that is rated the same as your pool volume could mean you may run shy if you have higher than normal bather load or high uv days as there’s no wiggle room. A larger cell will also last longer (in people years) because it doesn’t need to run as much so it will take longer to reach its 8-10k hour lifespan.
Perhaps they will give you a credit back for omitting the systems you mentioned. If not, then perhaps you can negotiate for some other pool stuffs that you know you will use like a solar cover or something. The place I got my pool from didn’t offer real swg’s, only the perma salt system, which is a copper ionizer disguised as a swg.
Since I declined it & their other offerings, they wouldn’t take $$ off but I was able to negotiate a set of wedding cake steps instead which I was already planning to buy.
No matter what chlorination method you choose you will need a proper test kit to start out on the right foot.
Test Kits Compared

 

[woodbone]

I do believe I am leaning towards saltwater, and now I need to figure out a good chlorinator to go with my pool.

 

[PoolStored]

I do believe I am leaning towards saltwater, and now I need to figure out a good chlorinator to go with my pool.

I can't speak to the AGP aspect and best systems there. I can say, after running a liquid chlorine pool, and now SWCG. I will fill in the pool before you take my SWCG away.

 

[Mdragger88]

Below is a good comparison chart - be sure to compare chlorine outputs as each brand is a little different depending upon the gal suggestion.
Hayward, pentair, & circupool are all well liked brands with tfpr’s.

Compare and Review Saltwater Chlorine Generator Prices and Features | DSP

www.discountsaltpool.com

& some other good reads

Salt Water Chlorine Generators

Salt Water Generators are designed to produce small amounts of chlorine continuously. This is perfect for day to day use and reduces work for the homeowner.

www.troublefreepool.com

How to select pool equipment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Since it's salt water compatible you may want to go with it. I'm not new to pool ownership but new to salt water. Our last pool went at the end of season in 2019 and all I did was use bleach mostly and trichlor in a feeder when we went on vacation, it was a good system and worked well for us for about 20 years. Fast forward toward end of season last year and we decided to get a new pool. When I did the math it no longer was going to be as cheap to use bleach as it had been and chlorine tab prices went through the roof so I opted for the salt water generator. Using bleach was very easy to use and I'm hoping the SWG makes it even easier. I couldn't justify the cost of a system 2x the size I got, cell is for 18,000 gallons, but we tend not to have high bather loads and bleach (if needed) can be added to aid the SWG. My very limited experience at the end of last season I barely used the SWG - my pool was not losing chlorine after the initial shock but it was end of season, pool was covered with a solar cover and it wasn't getting much direct sunlight. I did turn the SWG on just to see if it can operate.

One thing I can say is if you are getting the Hayward AG SWG try ato get the one which needs a flow switch to operate the cell. I did not get that one, when I bought the system I didn't have a choice and I was told that I needed to have my pump on a timer and I couldn't use the timer on the SWG. Whether this is correct or not in my township is questionable but I have to make sure that my pump starts first before the SWG comes on; a flow switch would be a fail safe in case the pump doesn't come on. With 2 timers I need to make sure I give the pump enough time to turn on/off in case the timers become out of sync.

 

[woodbone]

Thank you everyone for the responses, they are really helping, I'm learning so much, Mdragger88 that comparison chart was so helpful, thank you for that. I believe I'm going to go with CircuPool RJ-30 Plus it seems to be everything I need with a great warranty and a flow switch VinnyinNJ.