CYA and Bioguard sticks

We had a new pool installed and have been up and running for about three weeks. From thet get go, my CYA level has been nonexistant, so I have been using the Bioguard sticks that my pool builder supplied (with the plan to stop using them once the CYA is at recommended level). Anybody have a guess how much CYA is added by using the sticks? We have a 20,000 gallon pool and have to add a couple sticks each week. At this rate it seems like I can easily use these sticks for at least the rest of this year and still not have my CYA up much. That does have some appeal to me as the water has been very clear and needed very little work from me (although I still have been doing the testing regularly).

Oh, and thanks to everyone here. I found this site the weekend before our pool was finished and all the info. here has allowed me to be pretty confident in handling my water even though we have never had a pool before. But I will say that my buddy (who also has a pool) just can't believe that I am adding bleach to my pool (only for shocking so far, and near the return jets, not in the skimmer where the sticks are).

I don't have any good data on how much CYA the sticks add, but I don't think it's all that much. I use 2 Bioguard sticks at a time and also add about 1.5 liters of bleach every other day to my ~33,000 gal pool to maintain 3-5 ppm of chlorine. I have done this all summer and my CYA has only gone up from a little less than 30 in May to about 40. So while the Bioguard sticks (and shock) do add CYA, I don't think it adds that much. So it may take you several months to get to your CYA target.

Just test it every 2-3 weeks and see...it won't take long for you to get a feel for it.

Janet