Newbie- Filter/Pump/Etc questions

[Xerobull]

I bought a house a bit NW of Fort Worth last August that has a 24' round, 48" deep above ground pool with 'LeisureBay' on the side of it. I looked up the capacity and it's around 12,000 gallons. It also has a Baquapure pump/filter system (2.5hp) that I am pretty sure is fried.

The pool is full of old nasty water, so I'm sure that the liner is good (not leaking). The people we bought the house from had some marital issues and separated, and I gathered that the pool had not seen any maintainance in about two years.

I'm a very technically inclined person, but pools are a new frontier for me. The pump/filter system is in horrible shape. I'm sure that I could get it working, but I've inherited old equipment in the past, and have found that if affordable, it's far easier, faster and cheaper in the long run to buy new with a warranty. Not only do you get new equipment that has no mysterious past, you get a warranty that you can fall back on in the event of a hardware failure.

Since I'm looking at the whole system, I'm considering going Saltwater/Chlorinator. It seems to be the best, lowest-maintainance, and healthiest solution out there for pools today.

The system I'm considering is the Intex Deluxe Saltwater System.. For the pump, I'm considering the Intex 4000 Gallon Filter Pump.

Also, they sell some add-ons like the Intex Deluxe Surface Skimmer.

All of the Intex stuff seems to be at a good price point and they all get good reviews (overall). Does anyone have any experience with these products? Is it necessary to get add-ons like the Surface Skimmer?

Am I missing anything in the basic assembly?

Do I need anything else?

Any other advice?