The reason for "cleaning" zeolite is to regenerate its ammonia scavaging property. (The cleaner is generally a very acidic, concentrated salt solution.) However, if your salt level is high, either from older water which tends to have a higher salt content from continued use of chlorine or from using a SWCG this "advantage" of zeolite is somewhat nullified. IMHO, this advantage of zeolite is moot since ammonia is being dealt with efficiently if you are maintaining your pool by the guidelines promoted in this forum.

As far as water flowing through the pores in zeolite giving you smaller filtration--well, water is going to take the path of least resistance, which is going to be AROUND the grains just like it does with sand and not through the pores, thereby negating the second claim of zeolite's effectiveness over sand. In fact, some of the zeolite media sold actually have a larger grain size than sand sold for filter use and are actually a less effective filtration medium.