When you have your own pool, you never know who is going to pop over, so you better have some swimming pool supplies on hand. That way, your pool can be ready for them at a moments notice! One of the supplies you'll always have is a testing kit. These kits can perform 3, 5 or 8 different tests on your pool water, depending on which kit you buy. A 3 way kit will test for chlorine, bromine and pH levels. A 5 way will test for chlorine, bromine, pH levels, acidity and alkalinity. A 8 way test kit will test for chlorine, bromine, pH, total alkalinity, acid demand, base demand, calcium hardness and stabilizer or conditioner. Whatever kit you decide to buy, you should buy 2 of them so you will always have extra when you run out.

Of course, after testing, you might find you need to add something to the water. Therefore, you should keep a supply of different chemicals on hand. Some of these are algaecide, balancers, bromine, chlorine, clarifiers and some form of shock treatment. There are algaecides for preventing algae and treating it. The balancers help to keep things like the pH and alkalinity up or down and the calcium level correct. Bromine will sanitize your water much like chlorine but without the harshness to your skin and eyes. Chlorine is used to disinfect and sanitize and clarifiers help to keep your pool cleaner by making small particles cling together so they can be caught by the filter.

Anyone who has a swimming pool has had to shock it at one time or another. You usually do this after heavy use, several days in a row of very hot weather and after periods of intense rain. The shock treatment can be chlorine or non-chlorine and is used primarily to prevent the growth of algae.

If you live in a cold climate and the swimming season is finally over, you will need to winterize your pool. The swimming pool supplies you’ll need for that are chlorinator, algaecide and pH stabilizer. If you have an inground pool, don’t forget to add pool anti-freeze. A pool cover is not really a supply but now is the time to use it.

You should always have a few spare filter cartridges on hand if that is the type of filtration system your pool has. Also, if you have pool lighting, you’ll need replacement bulbs and don’t forget to keep on hand a vinyl patch kit just in case!