Happy to help a fellow grower out! For your soil question, it is like nutes... everyone seems to have their own ideas. I am subbed to a grow on here where a guy grew two identical clones, one in Miracle Grow and one in Fox Farms Ocean Forest.
You will see a lot of people on here who give MG a really hard time, but it turned out that the plant that was in the MG did just as good if not a little bit better than the one in the premium soil. As long as there is good drainage, you should be fine.
Watering is about the only thing on here that you will see most people agree on. Don't water until the top 4" of soil or so in your pots are dry. Too much water is the #1 mistake made by newer growers.