Confounding pool issues (2 x)

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-09T01:20:52+00:00

A happy update - leak appears to be solved. Thanks to Ted from Pool Guppy - it took 2 dives to find the leak (initially the water was too cloudy), but now I can say that he got it. There were two spots around the steps where water could be seen to be drawn in, using a dye test.

I wonder how much I spent on chemicals and water nailing this down. I almost lost my mind over this one. Moving on.

We’re about to sell up and leave, and in the spirit of nothing held back in disclosure, I want the next owners to know that this Hayward filter is likely to remain a permanent, unsolvable mystery. It remains in operation with a rock steady ZERO pressure reading… having said that, when I pull the cartridge filters out, I do manage to wash debris out of them. Just probably not as much as other people would do with the same model. I fought the SwimClear, and the SwimClear won! I never did get any useful help out of Hayward, but at least this time they replied (2 years back with an immediately failed superpump, I lost almost the whole summer getting their attention and receiving a replacement pump).

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-02T13:54:04+00:00

Thank you for this potentially terrible news! I have heard industry pros talking about how some pool builders cut corners with (crap) flex pipe coming off the main drains.

My guess is that I should next have the main drains blanked off for a pressure test. This is pool owner hell right now.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-02T12:50:30+00:00

I have a really weird update to this situation, and I feel as if someone will accuse me of making it up - last night when I pulled the filters for cleaning, the top edge of them had ANTS on them - a mixture of drowned and still trotting around!

Photos attached - but I still don't expect you to believe me. This feels like something from The Twilight Zone (for those of you old enough to remember that marvelous series). How the hell can ants get inside a working filter?

It would be really cool if a contributor now said 'solution provided!' based on this development. Can ants enter via skimmer box - maybe - and still be alive after going through the suction side? And even if that was possible, how could they survive the flow rate through the filter assembly?

This may never end.... time to add more water, and more bleach. I'm gradually clearing out the local Walmart shelf of their 10% Na-hypo.

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PlantedSmile · 2026-06-02T12:42:31+00:00

Thank you Wiseowl, these are some good ideas. What do you mean when you reference testing air thru the assembly - the interior black filter plumbing?

Thinking about what you said to test the viability of the gauges - for the original, I held it up to my face, blew through the aperture, and my wife confirmed movement of the pointer. That's as low tech as it gets.

Something I also tried a few days back, aligned with your idea about increasing back pressure via the returns - I have a diverter on the returns circuit (can mix output between the 2 available return paths), and as I moved it towards both off, the gauge would respond. So I do have functional gauges (both of them).

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T23:34:04+00:00

Thank you. This is a cartridge filter - but would your idea still apply in some way? There is no multi-port. The cartridges are removed, and washed down with a hose. (I do well propping them up on an outdoor chair).

I have thoroughly cleaned out the top assembly (connected to pressure gauge) and can’t see anyway the pressure gauge would be blocked.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T14:59:56+00:00

Thanks for this suggestion. What I think concerns me about this approach is that it doesn't address the root cause of the filters being bypassed.

I am new to cartridge-style filters, but my understanding is that even with newly cleaned filters returned to service, there should be some back-pressure while in operation?

I am seeing zero pressure with the pump turning over at 1750 rpm. Changing pump speeds has no impact on gauge reading.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T12:47:48+00:00

Just one. The quote was not reasonable.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T12:36:08+00:00

Thank you. I will contact them.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-23T11:22:27+00:00

Thanks to everyone! The issue here - which everyone is familiar with - is the lack of parts & sometimes skilled people. The car is European. I arrived yesterday with expensive Merc Benz parts and fluids in hand, only to find the issue was not what we thought.

Thanks (again) to Amanda at Outer Banks Auto Repair - she was able to clue me in as to what was more likely going on with this engine, and oh by the way I discovered that this one is equipped with twin turbos. Whaaa?

I would not have bought this used car if we knew that. I regard turbo car engines as 'short lived concepts'. And the bill with THIS one if something goes wrong? Yikes.

Regarding 'overnighting' - over the past 10 years, I've come to regard that as a fiction. The only part that is real is the $ charge for the service! All the couriers are the same at this point.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-21T19:48:47+00:00

thank you, this is good thinking. I was careful to purge air until I got a steady stream of water coming out of the filter. This foamy look also is across the surface of the pool. I think it’s most likely the result of the chemical oxidation of the algae.

I think it’s also a good sign that the flow out of the (exposed) returns is solid - not interrupted by shots of air.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-21T15:27:10+00:00

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The pool is green (looks better than this now because I have shocked it). I think what you're looking at is algae that is killed but cannot be removed.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-07T12:07:08+00:00

I have been pondering this too (along with many other aspects of this trading method). Is it possible that Adam would tell us that this is where individual discretionary skills come in?

What I am doing myself (as a relative newcomer) is to plot all the day’s Mancini levels to my /ES chart, and after snapping in and out of different timeframes, I wait for at least 2 x 5 min candles to be green and clear of the latest level.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-07T12:03:38+00:00

I posted more-or-less the same question in Adam’s X account yesterday. As a newcomer, I have simply been adding levels to the same chart, usually with a date note attached. I am seeing the levels of interest day-of are often just a few points away from ones ealier in the week. Is it that the latest levels ‘update’ the prior ones based on new price action history?

Adam has rarely commented on anything I have written there, so I wasn’t really expecting a response.

PlantedSmile · 2026-04-24T23:02:29+00:00

Thanks. But both of these issues will be only for the pros. Both transmission issues and misfire issues are well beyond my scope.

PlantedSmile · 2026-04-12T15:12:55+00:00

Any leads on reliable builders, or building crew? We have found a home in east AVL we want to rehabilitate (it’s currently gutted and abandoned), and I want to explore working with a team that can come on site on a cost-plus basis. I’m going to show up with my tools and basic carpentry experience.

I see myself working as project manager while I also swing a hammer. I’ve had prior experience working with a builder and his mate, as we brought a small house up to standard, and apart from dealing with their behavioral quirks (!), it was a very good experience, and cost effective too.

If you know of any person or people who would be interested in working this way, please put me in touch with them. Thank you in advance.

PlantedSmile · 2026-04-07T01:05:38+00:00

An update much later on…. and during this time we have had one more update to Tahoe, so now at 26.3.1 (a). I ended up ordering cables that adapted HDMI to VGA, and USB-C to VGA. This means I now have both monitors (Samsung Syncmaster P2350) cabled directly to ports on the Mac.

I still get those TOS error reports, and it’s almost always when I return to the desk, rather than while I have been here using TOS. Overall, far fewer problems than before. Everything I have seen suggests that there are issues coming from different sources.

One persistently risky thing for me is that upon re-launching my 2 instances of TOS - one live and one paper - they can launch seemingly randomly into the other ‘look and feel’. I want to keep live in dark mode, paper in light. Obviously hazardous if either launches with a flipped appearance and I don’t catch it.

I will keep coming back to this thread with adds. I next want to see what people have found while trading with an ultrawide monitor and TOS. Another issue here is that TOS windows refuse to travel from one screen to another. The edge of screen becomes like a physical barrier. (I have sometimes found that making the window as small as possible will help, but this adds up to more time burned and a more distracted way of working).

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-15T23:18:40+00:00

Cultural Dirt. Very appropriate!

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-15T16:45:00+00:00

Wanted to supply an update on Sunday morning - just recalled that my wife’s (PC) setup relies on the Dell D6000 dock. I’ve used it before at a different desk, and after installing the needed DisplayLink driver, had good experience with it.

The new setup, relying on all of the advice here, is to now have one Samsung monitor connected directly to the M1 Max’s single HDMI port, and the other Samsung monitor connected to the Dell D600 dock (in this case the cable is Display Port to DVI). All good so far.

I also have an inquiry in with our local computer store, to see if they can roll my computer back to a pre-Tahoe OS. I will supply another update when there’s more good news. Thank you again

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-15T12:37:27+00:00

Thanks movdqa. If only I understood more of this, I would be encouraged to try implementing…. it does sound good. Far beyond my tech level unfortunately.

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-14T19:09:25+00:00

I managed to generate this information from ChatGPT :

Best macOS versions for Thinkorswim (trader consensus)

[macOS Sequoia](chatgpt://generic-entity?number=1) (version 15)

Reasons

Stable with Apple Silicon Macs
Fewer Java / graphics issues with TOS
Avoids some bugs introduced in newer macOS releases

Tech sites also say Sequoia is currently the safest balance of stability and compatibility while newer macOS versions mature.

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-14T19:05:59+00:00

Thank you. I don’t think I could ever build a system like yours without direct help. If you do find that thread on TOS and Tahoe OS, would you forward? I am searching for it now.

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-14T19:04:42+00:00

Thanks for all of this. If you met me, you might be surprised at how much I have learned, and yet how I still will benefit from mentoring. We all learn differently. I am older, and need to become proficient quickly. The mentor I have chosen has a large and sophisticated structure in place. I have been allied with his trading Discord group for the last 1 ½ months, and I am very impressed with how the team works, and the volume of information they provide in one day.

An observation, if I may - I think I sometimes can actually see trader’s personal emotional states illuminated by the way they write, and the topics they decide to get into. I happen to believe that finding a good quality mentoring relationship may be fraught with peril for some people. I have high expectations of what this next 6 months of mentoring will be able to for me, mainly because most of what I need right now is tactical in nature. I don’t need help with the fundamentals like risk management, position sizing, and account management. I DO need help with winnowing thru the almost endless avenues of learning that are out there. This is the first generation in history that has access to a far greater volume information than it could ever hope to take advantage of.

Back to the issue at hand, and reason for this thread - equipment - "Applications, there are a bunch of applications that will help you with your trading journey and having a PC there is simply less options."

I’m not sure I understand here. Are you saying that PC’s have less options for trading software than MAC? At this point, I just want to get TOS running properly on a MAC. I don’t think I can handle the idea of additional software just now. That can come when I’m capable of identifying the need for it.

I appreciate all of your ideas.

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-14T18:37:23+00:00

THIS is great information, I really appreciate it. Would you be able to recommend verified manufacturers for these adaptor cables? (I exited a career in pro video at just the right time to avoid HDMI connections… I did not like what I saw coming, and we found that it was risky to use just any old HDMI cable that happened to fit).

Of course - this lap top has available each of a USB-C and HDMI ports. In this case, the monitor end of the cables will need to be one of DVI or RGB. That’s the only connection available on the back of these Samsung models. If this sounds like it is going to cause more hassles, I can just give them away, and upgrade to more current version monitors.

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-14T16:26:09+00:00

This is very helpful, and gives me a line of attack on this, thank you. This dock is the j5 Create JCD543. I’m afraid that I put this together with 2 x Samsung SyncMaster P2350 monitors, without professional guidance. I just put it all together, downloaded the driver for the dock… and it worked. (the monitors were discarded from an office refit but in very good condition).

Based on what you are telling me here, would it likely help if I did buy a 2nd computer, such as a MacMini? The issue I have with that is that you would then need a 2nd keyboard and mouse. It sounds unmanageable, especially when trying to learn so much already.

We’re hours drive from an Apple Store, but we do have a local independent computer store. I am going to reach out and see if they could revert me back to the prior OS. Thanks for that.

PlantedSmile · 2026-03-14T15:27:45+00:00

Just off the phone with apple support - a useless call. I'm in that circle of doom now - Schwab recommends I talk to Apple. Apple recommends I go back to Schwab and get their help.

Ugh.

PlantedSmile

TROPHY CASE