This is Christina's husband posting. Thanks again for all of the info so far. A lot to wade through. Some additional background:

Pool volume is about 10,000 gallons---roughly 10' x 28' rectangle, fiberglass in-ground installed less than 5 years ago.

Sand Filter. The following was on various parts of the machinery. SM1-HP3 and 1 1/2" Hayward SP710 x 32 sand filter only. S-200 S2, Rev. A. Also saw S-200-K on there.

Hayward Super Pump Model CC48J2N131B1

Hayward H200 H Series gas heater

Pool was opened this morning. Water 'looked' pretty darn clear. All I did was add water from the garden hose and start running the filter then came in to post here. :-D Pool was winterized with Pristine Blue. We bought the place in December 2011 and there was a small fortune in PristineBlue products left for us which, of course, I'm trying not to let influence our decision (but it's hard).

No trees overhanging or really even near the pool. Most non-human organic debris probably going to be from a lot of insects, flyover bird poops and the occasional wayward field mouse. The pool is likely to see HEAVY use from kids ages 2-10 (so questionable potty training) in the form of multiple daily swim/play sessions and private group swim lessons since there aren't really any other good alternatives locally. Also the dog likes to stand up to her chest and cool off/slurp up the water (based on past pool experience with her).

I'd previously followed Chem_Geek's discussion on another forum when we were researching Pristine Blue and I saw where the EPA just finished re-registration of PristineBlue earlier this May. Impressive work and follow-up Chem_Geek! I can assure you they have not updated their website as just today they still claim PristineBlue is an "environmentally friendly algicide and bactericide." As someone who is naturally suspicious of corporations and corporate claims (plaintiff's class action lawyer), I'm very disappointed with Earth Science Labs' posted claims.

The PristineBlue literature (taken with a grain of copper ions in light of their promotional materials) states that they have in their lineup of products, PristineExtra which is a sodium di-chlor product which "[m]ay be used for troubleshooting if necessary." Since PristineBlue is advertised as being compatible with chlorine and since the real achilles heel with PristineBlue seems to be with it's 'public health bacteria' killing power is there some way to marry copper and chlorine? In other words, is it a viable strategy to use the PristineBlue system we have on hand and then add in something like their PristineExtra regularly to kill the public health nasties dead?

I suppose one response is that if you're going to be 'doping' your PristineBlue setup with their sodium di-chlor product to control 'nonpublic health bacteria' then why not just dump the PristineBlue system anyway and revert to a more traditional chlorine setup???

I would be very interested in everyone's thoughts on this.

Thanks again for everyone's replies and input. It's been VERY educational.

Carl