I only said that those are the possible reasons for your yearly purchases.
Sorry, if I came across wrong, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of my issues - I've had some frustrating times in the past.

I have never understood the attraction of Bacquacil, or Bromine.
New pool owner ignorance coupled with advice from the pool dealer - if I only knew then what I know now...

What I heard from the dealer was that baquacil would not have that chlorine smell, and would be easy to use - which sold me. I didn't hear anything about a lot higher costs, etc. Bottom line is I really didn't do my homework - but other than this forum, most of the information out there seems to be provided by pool chemical product manufacturers and pool supply dealers. I guess there's no substitue for experience.

I've done the muriatic acid thing - too messy, and not enough of a benefit that I could see.

I had never heard of a carboy - I'll check with a pool place tomorrow. Looks like that's what I need. My baquacil was at 50 ppm last week. I emptied my pool down to 16" and refilled it back up and it seems to be down to from 0 to 15 ppm. I'm hoping that will reduce the mess during conversion.