Virtually EVERYONE here will tell you that the ionizer is a total waste of money. We'll also tell you that a properly maintained SWCG WILL use less chlorine. You generally need your FC level to be about 5% of your stabilizer level. So if your stabilizer is 50ppm, your FC should be at least 2.5ppm

Also, most people here don't worry about high FC (free chlorine) levels, but rather high levels of CC (Combined chlorine/chloramines), or low/hi pH levels.