New user -- debating on mineral or salt system -- thoughts?

[ccsmiley]

My wife and I are interviewing various local PB's and have been told the benefits of each system (depending on builder). Looking for feedback on which system works best?

Live in Southeast, looking at vinyl lined inground pool.

[aylad]

Hi,

You will find very few, if any, supporters of the mineral systems on this forum. The advertising they do make them sound great--low maintenance, lower than normal chlorine levels, etc-- but they don't tell you that the mineral systems add metals to your water, which can extremely comPlicate your pool chemistry, or that those minerals, while ok for inhibiting algae growth, don't do a great job with bacteris, and are pretty much useless against viruses. My vote? Salt!!

Welcome to the forum!!

[BigDave]

I am completely with aylad on this - Salt!

More specifically, Salt Water Chlorine Generation. A SWCG electrolyses salt water to form chlorine in the pool. A salt pool is a chlorine pool.

This forum and http://www.poolsolutions.com are the best place to learn to take care of a chlorine pool no matter your preferred source of chlorine. Read up, the better prepared you are, the better your pool experience will be, especially at start-up. Note that you will need to work with your pool builder at start-up time to preserve any warranty.

One more piece of unsolicited advice: In my opinion, the most important start-up chemical for a new pool is a Taylor K-2006 testkit (accept no substitutes! - find it through aylad's sig block), followed by water.

Construction is always stressful but you're gonna love having a pool and if you learn how to take care of it here, it will be easy.