No, I don't use the mineral springs program. I think they simply add CYA and some buffers to the salt and charge you a lot of money for it. You can do it all separately which is cheaper and probably better since you have more control over amounts.

I test the PH & CL once a week, yes some do it every day but I don't. I add about 1 pint of muriatic acid per week to keep PH within +- .1 of optimum SI. I check alkalinity every other week or when I feel like it but I have not had to do anything for that yet. As for salt, I add that when the controller reading drops below 2800, only one bag so far this year. Other than vacuuming and brushing once in a while, not much else. I think I have been lucky and not had to do much in terms of maintenance.