watering the right way?

keep up the tracking and the measuring. What isn't so consistent is "when" to water. Always react to what you see and feel. Don't try to make a schedule for that. A loose set of rules is better. I'm sure you've heard to let top 1" dry and then saturate with ~20% runoff.. do that along with your current care about what you put into your soil, and you will avoid numerous issues and decrease your learning curve by eliminating a ton of issues that are self-inflicted. pH the tap too.. make sure it's roughly in range. if tap pH is consistent, you can have confidence your measured acid/base will work in a consistent way. Saves a bit of daily effort pH'ing everything. still better to pH often to make sure.. i'm lazy and only check if i see a problem, now... i know 2.5mL distilled vinegar per half gallon to add for water-only and my nutes come out just right on their own.

Seems like what your doing is working great don't fix what's not broken right? I'd wait untill they have 5 nodes before topping down to the third or fourth. This way you plant has a strong enough root system to recover. Happy Growing! 🤟😜