The Best Pool Supplies You Absolutely Need in 2025

Before you run out to the nearest pool store and plunk down a big ol’ chunk of change, make sure you know what pool supplies are actually necessary. You’ll save yourself some money, and you’ll be ready to take care of your pool like a pro.

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Our Favorite Pool Chemicals and Water Testing Supplies

It’s hard to practice good pool maintenance if you don’t have the tools to accomplish it. Stock up on a few essentials, and then build from there. There’s no point in owning a pool if it’s all struggle. Having the right tools at hand will make your life a lot easier and allow you to enjoy your pool much more.

Pool Water Testing

We cannot stress enough how incredibly important water testing is for pool maintenance. It’s best to test your water at least once a week. Regular testing lets you know when you need to add chemicals to your pool to prevent nasty bacteria and algae from growing.

Instead, stock up on test strips. They’re not as accurate as liquid test kits. Still, they’re quick and easy to use and cover all the basic levels you need to keep track of free chlorine, total chlorine, bromine (if you use that instead of chlorine), total hardness, total alkalinity, pH, and cyanuric acid.

Pool Water Balancing

You need to balance your pool water by maintaining the proper pH, Alkalinity, and Calcium Hardness Levels. Four different chemicals help balance the water.

For increasing your alkalinity, you can either use our favorite Alkalinity Increaser or baking soda.

NOTE: if you want to lower your alkalinity, you can use muriatic acid.

For controlling your pool pH balance, you can use pH Increaser and pH Decreaser.

And finally, you need to control your calcium hardness level if you have an inground swimming pool. You can use calcium hardness increaser and it’s something you’ll only use about once per year. If you have a quick set-up pool (Intex), then you don’t need calcium hardness. Calcium hardness helps prolong the life of your pool lining whether it’s concrete, fiberglass, or vinyl.

Pool Sanitizer

Our favorite swimming pool sanitizer is chlorine. It’s hands down the most effective and widely used one. In fact, if you have a saltwater pool, then you have a chlorine pool because your saltwater generator turns salt into chlorine.

However, if you don’t have a saltwater pool, you can add chlorine using 3″ tablets in either your skimmer basket or a chlorinator. And we recommend that you use a chlorinator (here’s our favorite one).

If you want to reduce your chlorine usage by 50%, we recommend using PoolRX. This device drops into your skimmer basket and adds minerals to your water, allowing you to keep your chlorine level between 0.5 and 1 ppm instead of the normal 1 to 3 ppm.

If you have a smaller pool (under 10,000 gallons), then you can use granular chlorine for a hot tub.

Pool Shock

When your pool starts to smell like a hotel pool, it’s time to shock your water. Your pool actually shouldn’t smell like anything. This chemical smell means your sanitizer level is too low and is no longer doing its job.

Giving your pool a shock will bring sanitizer levels up where they need to be, kill bacteria, and ensure your water is clean. It can also help address mild cases of algae.

To accomplish all those things most effectively, choose a calcium hypochlorite or cal hypo shock. Shock your water once a week or at least once every other week to prevent the dreaded hotel pool smell. The more you use your pool, the more often you’ll need to shock it.

You’ll also want to shock your pool after significant water level changes, pool accidents involving someone’s bowels, severe rainstorms, or when you need to kill pool invaders like algae. Here’s how to shock your swimming pool.

If you have a smaller Intex style pool or don’t have any current water issues, you can use non-chlorine shock which only takes 15 minutes to work. Here’s our favorite non-chlorine shock.

Our Favorite Pool Cleaning Gear

This is our collection of the best pool cleaning gear that every homeowner must-have. We’ve researched and picked what we thought was the best quality gear on the market.

Telescopic Pole

Telescoping poles are versatile cleaning support tools, especially since most come with the option for interchangeable heads. This means you only need one pole to use a pool skimmer, manual vacuum, or pool brush.

Depending on the width of your pool, you won’t have to constantly walk around the deck to chase debris. You’ll also have the ability to shorten the pole for cleaning tasks that require a little less reach and more control, like vacuuming the pool steps.

Pool Skimmer (Leaf Net) and Brushes

The most used tool in pool maintenance is the skimmer/leaf net. It attaches to a telescopic pole so you can collect debris off the surface of the pool. There are two types:

1. Leaf Net: Deep net to catch a lot of debris.
2. Skimmer: Flat net just for a quick surface skimmer.

We like using leaf net skimmers, so you don’t have to keep emptying the skimmer as you clean. You can use a leaf net in one consistent motion.

The other frequently used tool is a brush. And there are two types as well.

1. An algae brush has stainless steel bristles that will easily break algae’s hold on walls, steps, and wherever else it may be hiding. Important: Stainless steel algae brushes are best for concrete or gunite pools.
2. A regular nylon bristle pool brush if you have a vinyl liner to avoid damaging it.

Manual Pool Vacuum Head and Hose

Most compact vacuum cleaner heads are compact, giving you more control when you’re cleaning your pool. Sure, an automatic cleaner can save you time and muscle strain, but it might miss hard-to-reach spaces. A manual option in your pool supplies can help you spot-clean minor problem areas before they become major problem areas.

Tip: To use a manual vacuum, you’ll also need a telescoping pole and a vacuum hose.

Automatic Pool Cleaner

OK, so you don’t absolutely need this one as long as you have a manual vacuum. However, an automatic pool cleaner can save you a lot of time and effort by helping to keep your pool clean, even when you’re not around.

Think about it. You have a rough day at work, traffic on the way home is terrible, and all you want to do when you finally get home is take a refreshing dip in your clear, clean pool. However, while you are at work, a bunch of leaves and other stuff blow into the water, so before you can relax and enjoy your pool, you have to vacuum it. Ugh. You may as well stay inside.

But if you had an automatic cleaner zipping around the pool all day, you’d come home to clear water ready for you to dive in with no hassle. We think this makes it one of the most helpful pool supplies you can have in your pool care arsenal.

A lot of pool stores will have a ton of supplies they say you absolutely need to get the job done. And you may find other pool supplies later on that you can’t live without. We all have our ways of handling pool maintenance with little tweaks here and there to reach the same end goal: a clean, healthy pool.

You’ll add to your stock of pool supplies as you become a more seasoned pool owner. Just make sure you have the essentials to keep your pool clean, and you’ll get a lot more enjoyment out of your investment. And isn’t that the way it should be?

3 Ways We Can Help With Your Pool

1. Pool Care Cheat Sheets (Free): Easy-to-use downloadable guides to help you keep track of taking care of your pool this year.
2. The Pool Care Handbook: An illustrated guide to DIY pool care, including water chemistry, maintenance, troubleshooting, and more.
3. The Pool Care Video Course: You’ll get 30+ step-by-step videos and a downloadable guide with everything you need to know about pool maintenance.