Should I add chlorine to my salt water pool?

Although salt-water pools are designed to produce most of the chlorine needed for proper pool maintenance, they only produce chlorine when the pump and filter are in operation and are designed with "normal" swimmer/bather loads in mind.

If you're swimming frequently, have a pool party, or if a storm rolls through, then it's usually a good idea to manually add an oxidizer or shock treatment to ensure that the chlorine being produced doesn't get over-loaded.

Supplemental chlorine can be added (usually tabs) to ensure sanitation levels are maintained in heated applications (which causes higher chlorine consumption), or in the event that the chlorine generator needs maintenance or cleaning of the cell.