When we lived in Los Angeles, we had an in-ground pool. It was an older pool, very deep, and super fun! We also had a pool service who came and did all of the maintenance, balancing, and cleaning. They came once per week and took care of everything.

However, with our stock tank pool, we decided that maintenance would be our own responsibility. And to help in that, we purchased a pHin Water Monitor. The pHin is marketed as a simple way to keep spas and pools balanced and clean. And it is.

Update: pHin is no longer available

We have replaced ours with the Sutro water monitor. Check out my updated review below:

Once you download the pHin app to your phone, the app guides you through setting up your pHin. It comes with a set of test strips to test for water hardness and a few other water quality issues. These are the only tests you need to do. The pHin does the rest while floating in the water. The pHin floats in the pool, taking measurements and monitoring the water 24/7. After a recent rain storm, for example, it notified me to add some fast-acting chlorine as the rainwater had diluted the pool a bit. I take great pleasure in seeing “Perfectly Balanced” on the app — like getting an A+ in Pool Maintenance, I guess.

I particularly appreciate pHin’s notification feature. Every few days I get a notification with complete instructions for how to adjust the chemicals in the pool. I don’t have to remember to use test strips each day to check in on the water. We certainly do daily maintenance, but testing isn’t part of that equation.

Another great feature of the pHin: the shopping list. I scanned the UPC code for each of the products we use to keep our pool clean and balanced. pHin keeps track of them and when it is time to reorder, I can send my order to a local store which will have it ready for pick up. Very handy now that browsing at any store is a terrible idea. pHin also offers a subscription service for pool chemicals. For our tiny pool, it doesn’t pencil, but if you have a full-sized pool, getting all of your supplies by mail may make a lot of sense. I wish they had a lower-priced spa option.

This is part of a series about building our own stock tank pool. Click the link:

Finally, I love the graphs that pHin produces charting statistics like temperature changes over time. Our stock tank pool fluctuates a lot over 24 hour periods because our nights are so much cooler than our days. Seeing this we may decide to insulate our pool at some point to help keep a more consistent temperature. But that’s a future project!

All in all, I am delighted that we purchased the pHin! It has made learning to care for our stock tank pool easier, and I feel much more confident that we are keeping it safe for our family.

Note: pHin did not sponsor this post.

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