If you want to get the most out of your swimming pool, then you are going to have to keep it as clean as possible. And in order to keep it clean, you are going to have to spend some time testing the water. This means using the best pool testing kit available and checking the water several times a week to prevent harmful levels of bacteria and algae from accumulating in your pool’s water.

Making sure that your pool’s water is well balanced will ensure that these harmful organisms don’t end up calling your swimming pool home. To help our readers out with that quest, we’ve decided to list the top ten test kits for testing swimming pools. Anyone of these kits will ensure that the only organisms swimming in your pool are you, your friends and your family.

Best Pool Test Kits

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10Taylor K2006 Complete Water Test Kit

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Using this pool test kit, just about any pool owner can get a pretty good chemical profile of their swimming pool. That’s because this kit gives the pool owner all of the tools they need to check for 3-different pool chemistry metrics. These metrics are a bromine test for determining acid-base demand, total alkalinity and even calcium hardness levels. And it all comes in an easy-to-carry case that stores all of the individual kit components neatly inside of it. And this makes it one of the best kits available that can be utilized by both homeowners and professionals alike.

9Poolmaster 5-Way Water Chemistry Kit

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This small test kit is ideal for home pool owners because it contains everything necessary to check up on the pool’s water chemistry, but it’s still quite easy for just about anyone to use. This kit can test for 5-different metrics, and these metrics include bromine, total alkalinity, chlorine, pH, and acid demand. It comes with a round see-through test block that has integrated color chips that can be used for easy color matching. It also comes with a polyethylene case that keeps everything protected from the elements. And since it’s such a simple test, it’s also quite inexpensive as well.

8Health Metric Water Hardness Test Kit

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Even though this product isn’t designed to test the pool’s entire chemistry composition level, it is capable of testing for one of the more important metrics, the hardness of the water. This kit can measure hardness in both GPG and PPM measurements, which makes it easy for the user to calibrate their water softening system. This means that this product is not only good for keeping track of the water hardness level for pools but is also suitable for testing the water in your spa, well water or even household faucet water. And since it contains 50 test strips, users can use the kit for quite some time without needing to buy a new one.

7Aqua Chek Pool & Spa Test Strips

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This test is easy to set up and is very easy to use for testing the waters of a pool or a spa. This test is capable of testing four very important pool chemistry measurements. It’s capable of testing for water hardness, for pH levels, for alkalinity and of course, it can also test for bromine. In order to use these strips, all the user has to do is dip them into the pool’s water for approximately 1-second. After that’s been done, these strips will then provide the user with results in only a few seconds. That makes it a simple kit for anyone who wants fast and accurate pool chemistry readings.

6Aqua Check Pro Pool Test Strips

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This convenient and easy-to-use kit is designed so that just about anyone can check their pool’s most common chemical components. This test is capable of providing the pool owner with the ability to check for free chlorine, pH, alkalinity, and total bromine. And since this is a dip test, all the user has to do is dip into their pool’s water for almost immediate readings. This will enable them to take a quick look at their pool’s chemistry without getting bogged down with some of the other factors that other kits test for. It might not be the most complex test available, but it is quick and easy.

5Taylor Deluxe DPD Water Testing Kit

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This semi-professional pool water testing kit is designed to be used by anyone who needs to keep accurate measurements of their pool’s levels. This test is designed for public pool operators, service technicians, and health department inspectors to give them the tools they need to get an accurate view of their pool water. This test provides accurate readings for free and total chlorine, for acid demand, for base demand, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, and cyanuric acid levels. It also tests for bromine levels, too. It’s a very comprehensive kit for those who need accurate results every single time they test their pool.

4Taylor Service Complete Water Test Kit

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Although this comprehensive kit is not designed for home pool owners, it is a kit that’s designed for professionals who need to be able to test pool water quite thoroughly. Easily used by health department officials or commercial pool service technicians, this kit will provide all the tools required to test the healthiness of a pool’s water. It can test for bromine, free and total chlorine, pH levels, acid and base on demand, total alkalinity, and calcium hardness levels. It’s a great tool for professionals who are looking to know what’s exactly in the pool so it can be kept well balanced.

3Poolmaster 3-Way Testing Kit

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Even though this pool testing kit isn’t as comprehensive as some of the other kits on this list, it does accurately analyze three different chemical factors quite well. This kit is able to test chlorine, bromine and pH level quite well, and it’s an easy-to-use kit that doesn’t have too much of a learning curve. This testing kit is manufactured by a company that’s been making high-quality pool supplies since the 1950s and continue to make innovative products. Since its a kit that comes with its own protective weather-resistant case, it can be left near the pool so it can be tested on the fly as needed.

2Hth 6-Way Test Kit

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This 6-way kit not only tests for some of the more common pool elements, but one test is good for up to a 100 different test. Some of the components that can be tested with this kit include cyanuric acid levels, chlorine, water hardness, pH, bromine and total alkalinity. This kit is easy to use and doesn’t take any time whatsoever to deliver an accurate reading of your pool. This test will enable anyone to keep their pool in the best condition possible. It doesn’t matter if they have an above ground pool, or an in-ground one, this test can handle it all.

1Aqua Check 6-In-1 Test Strip Kit

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Even though this pool test kit isn’t the most sophisticated one on the market, it is inexpensive and gets the job done. Using this kit, the pool owner can check for a variety of factors including total pool alkalinity, chlorine levels, bromine levels, and pH levels. Since this kit is made up of easy-to-use strips, results will be shown in approximately 30-seconds or less. This allows the pool owner to immediately see what their pool needs, and when it needs it. This kit can be used not just for the pool either. It can also be used in spas or hot tubs as well, so one kit can check all of the water recreational appliances.

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A Guide To Pool Testing Kits

We hope that the reviews we’ve done for the best pool testing kits provide all of our readers with the variety of kits they might need to keep their pool in good shape. Some people need a full kit, especially those who have just started out, and other people might only need a kit for testing one or two key chemical areas because they already have a full kit. It was our intention to provide enough choices that everyone could find what they needed.

Now that we’ve said that, it’s time to turn our attention to giving all of our readers the information they need to purchase the best testing kit for their pool. We understand that since we’ve listed so many pool testing kits up above, it might be difficult for readers to choose which one is best for their situation. It’s our hope that this guide changes that and gives everyone reading a concrete road map to choosing a kit for their pool.

How To Choose A Pool Testing Kit

The first thing that the consumer is going to need to do is to check their local requirements. In some areas, local regulations dictate what pool tests need to be performed and what type of tests the consumer needs to use. Some states only require a person to have a loose knowledge of the chemical concentration levels in their pool, while others are more stringent.

Think About What You Might Need

The next thing the pool owner is going to want to think about is what they want to test for in their pool’s water. Just because state regulations or local regulations don’t require a person to check for a particular chemical level doesn’t mean that information isn’t helpful. Some of the larger kits not only cover the basics such as pH level, chlorine level, and calcium hardness, but may also test for certain metals, phosphate levels, or salinity. What test kit you need is going to depend on your personal strategy for maintaining your pool.

Think About Your Budget

Of course, we could sit here and just tell everyone to buy one of the large pool testing kits so that they have everything available at their fingertips, but that wouldn’t be too useful would it? After all, people have different budgets and not everyone needs a fancy testing kit, so pool owners should definitely take their budget into consideration before purchasing a kit.

Decide Between Colorimetric or Photometric Tests

The next thing the consumer is going to want to think about before purchasing a new pool test kit is whether they want a colorimetric or photometric test. While both of these testing types work well, not all of them are suitable to be used by everyone. Since the colorimetric test depends on the person being able to accurately read color/shade levels to find out chemical levels, these tests might not be suitable for people who are colorblind or have vision problems. Photometric tests analyze the color sample themselves, so it takes the user out of the equation and always gives an accurate result. However, photometric tests are more expensive, so the consumer is going to have to factor that into their decision before purchasing one.

How To Test Your Pool’s Water

In this guide, we not only wanted to let our readers know how to purchase a great pool testing kit, but we also wanted to give them some advice on using that test effectively. Although we don’t have the space to list all of the different pool testing methods used for all of the different kits, we can cover the procedures for two of the most basic pool tests: Liquid Test Kits and  Test Strips. As is always the case when we give instructions, it’s always best to read the manufacturer’s instructions and follow them to the letter. If there are any discrepancies between our instructions and your testing kit, then you should consider your kit to be the most accurate and complete set of instructions.

Regularly Test Your Pool

Before we get into the individual tests, we’d like to recommend to consumers that they test their water approximately 2-3 times a week to ensure that chemical levels are where they should be.

Using A Liquid Test Kit

A basic liquid test kit should contain Orthotolidine (OTO) and red phenol. These are needed to test chlorine and pH levels. Below are how these kits are used.

  • Step One: Use the kit’s collector cup to snatch up a pool water sample.
  • Step Twp: For pH testing, add the recommended drops of phenol red to the sample.
  • Step Three: For chlorine testing, add the recommended number of OTO drops to the chlorine side.
  • Step Four: Holding the collector to a light background, compare the water to the color scales.

The redder the pool’s water, the higher the pH level of the water. The more yellow in the water, the higher the chlorine level is. Lighter colors mean that chemical concentrations are lower. To aid in seeing the samples well, it’s usually a good idea to hold a white piece of paper to serve as a background for the collector.

Using Pool Testing Strips

The next thing that we want to talk about is pool testing strips. These simple kits are inexpensive and every pool owner should have them in their pool maintenance collection. The advantage that these test strips might have over other tests is that they’re inexpensive and easy to read. With that said, let’s go over the procedure for using these strips before we bring this guide to a conclusion.

  • Step One: Make sure to collect a good water sample.
  • Step Two: Take the pool testing strip and dip it in the water. Just a quick dip will do.
  • Step Three: Don’t shake the test strip. Hold it still for approximately 15-20 seconds.
  • Step Four: Compare the color of the strip to the color on the guide that’s located on the packaging.
  • Step Five: Once you know the chemical concentrations, you can adjust your chemicals to proper levels.