I would leave the tail on. The pad on the tails helps with the cleaning by stirring up the fine dirt for your filter to catch.

As for the handle's position, up is a quiet operation and down gives my the babbling brook affect! No difference in function.

You may want to lay the cleaner, with the hose straight, in the sun to help take the coils out of your hose. This may help in the shallow end. But it does miss our shallow end sometimes.

If it is climbing the walls, then I would say your rpms and floats are correct.

Joe