I remember having a DE filter for a pool when I was young, and I had the job of looking after it. Hated the damn thing. Far too much mucking about. Constantly having to backwash and refill. It was messy and the daily chemical routine was a PITA.
Fast forward 40+ years to our current home and it came with a 50,000 litre pebblecrete salt water pool, sand filter and an auto chlorinator. It would be of 1990s vintage. Being mild to hot climate the pool is maintained 365 days/year.
I replaced the pump not long after getting here, the old single speed pump was energy hungry and about to die while the Hayward variable speed pump is much, much better and now runs from my DIY off-grid solar PV system.
I have the pump managed via a smart switch controlled with Home Assistant automation of the pump's daily duty cycle - it adjusts start and end times using offsets to sunrise and sunset. This way the pump duty cycle occurs during the best solar PV hours and the duty cycle automatically gets longer for Summer and shorter for Winter. There's also some checks to switch off the pump early if for some reason the battery SOC is below a set threshold. I will be working on more automation in future where the system can automatically cut over to use grid supply in case there is the occasional solar drought.
I use a Dragonfly floating skimmer which collects surface material way better rather than just hoping stuff floats its way to the side inlet. Rarely do I manually vacuum using the filter pump. I have a robot vacuum (Zodiac CX 20) I put in the pool about once a week and it does a great job. Also runs from my off-grid system.
Once a week or two I add about a cup of acid (HCl, I think you call it Muriatic acid in the US) to keep pH in check as pH tends to rise naturally with salt water/auto chlorination), and then occasionally whatever other speciality chemicals might be needed for pool health. Bicarb for buffering, calcium, phosphates and so on as needed (not often) to ensure the water is good and keeps the pebblecrete in good condition.
I'd like one day to add an auto pH controller. One less thing to worry about (prob need to swap out the acid supply about every 2-3 months).
Salt isn't needed to be added all that often and is cheap. It's mostly needed when we have heavy rain events and the water gets diluted. Else a few bags a year is about it.
I so want to get the pool area re-landscaped. Needs an overhaul and new fencing.