skimming balls

[waterbear]

"Scumballs", "Scumbugs", "SunSorbs" ( just to name a few of the varieties of this useful gadgets) are made of a white, sponge like oil absorbing plastic and they DO work. Been using them in both my spa and in my pool skimmer for a long time. In my area they retail for under $7 (Sunsorb, shaped like an Aztec sun and fits nicely in the skimmer! Scumbugs look like a bug and the Scumballs are, well, ball shaped!). When they get dirty just rinse them out under the faucet (If they are really dirty I hit them with some bleach and squeeze it through them and then rinse them). They last for quite a while! My current ones are in their second year and the ony reason I had to replace them is because I had my grandniece and 2 grandnephews visiting and they thought it was great fun to play catch with them in the pool and they got torn up!

IMHO, every pool or spa can benefit from them (and also skimmer socks for yoru pool! It's not often that something so inexpensive can really help with pool maintenance!)

Edit: in a pool the best place for them is in your skimmer, keeps them out of the way!