Mineral Springs sanitizer - new owner

[justden]

I just purchased a used Mineral Springs MS-10. I don't know to much about SWG's as I have never owned one but they sound great and it was cheap enough that even if the cell is bad I can afford to replace it. (it's 1 year old and he swears it works great) Here are my questions;
Do all SWG's work the same way? This manual say's instead of salt, use a product called "Beginnings"and then to maintain the pool weekly by adding "Renewal". I thought one of the advantages of a SWG was so you did not have to add something every week, as long as your PH and alkalinity are ok. Could these products be their own brands that they are pushing? Can I use salt, if so what kind should I buy. Is Mineral Springs a good unit? I was told it is exactly the same as a Aqua rite, is this correct.

Any other words of wisdom for a beginner?

Thanks for your help,
Dennis

[Walter]

Mineral Springs uses the beginnings and renewal and that is the down side of that. They say you can use regular salt and add conditioner to the pool. I have been around Mineral Springs, Gold Line and AquaPure and MS is the worse to run and work with because of the special salt. Good Luck

[Susie]

I have read that I can get Salt from Lowe's for about $8 a bag instead of the Beginnings for my Mineral Springs system. I have paid $35 for the beginnings. Is this safe to use?

[Strannik-au]

You don't have to use those beginnings and whatever else they sell.

The SWG looks like a rebranded goldline aquarite, so you can use normal salt and then control the rest of parameters as you would with any other SWG.

Essentially what those beginning and renewals are - salt along with other chemicals necessary to maintain your water balance.