# Forum Home Renovation Pools, Spa & Water Features  New pool chlorinator needed. Which one? Automation?

## zebrax0r

Hi.  So, I need a new salt water pool chlorinator unfortunately. My old one bit the dust a few months ago. It was an ancient Zodiac Clearwater unit.  The pool is 35,000L, in-ground, pebble-crete.  Locale is Brisbane, Australia - so pretty warm/humid climate.  My local pool store is pushing the Astral Equilibrium EQ units onto me, with the full automation equipment for self dosing of chlorine and acid.  I have an Astral Viron DC brushless pump. It is pretty darn impressive.  I'm just finding it hard to come to terms with an almost $3k sink-hole. The automation alone (two probes!) are $1000. Kind of concerning.  The other local pool joint have given me the typical rhetoric:  _"Nah, we won't even stock the Astral stuff. Bad news that automation equipment. Go with a stock standard big old transistor based chlorinator. It'll cause you less problems. You should get yourself a Noria ROK: X unit!"_  And of course the primary pool shop are all like:  _"Of course they'd say that...because...insert whatever excuse here"._  Just looking for people's experiences with the Astral Equilibrium stuff. There seems to be absolutely no actual reviews of this equipment online. What of pool dosing automation? Good? Bad? Ugly? More trouble than it is worth, or is it robust these days?  Thanks.  z

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