bought a house, looking for some answers to my questions

[PoolDoc]

No, it's not over kill

If you have an IG pool pump and DE filter, with both properly sized and connected to a well designed circulation system, you can run your system 4 hours, though I never recommend it -- to much chance of algae growth during the stagnant period.

But, Intex pool pumps are undersized; the filters are WAY undersized, and they are connected to a marginal circulation system. HOWEVER, if you maintain the water and keep the pump on 24/7, you can keep the pool looking good. CarlD, here, did that for a year or two with excellent results, before he got his current monster above ground.

However when anything goes wrong -- algae, well water, 3 days of neglect -- and the pool gets all cloudy, you can forget about cleaning it up in a few days. If you can straighten things our in a week, you are doing very, very well indeed.

So, run your pump 24/7 and avoid problems

Best wishes.

Ben