joey.......... hang in there you, have lots of support and you own inner strength.
all our prayers and best wishes from the house of sam for a speedy recovery :)
there are no hard rules. twice a day is fine. you will learn to judge how much food by how hungry he is when you feed him.
they grow very fast a 3 to 4 footer may only be two years old.
ballasts are sold for the size and number of bulbs you want to power. nothing to figure.... see grainger.com or mcmaster.com and you will see the bulb ratings for the ballasts.
i used a stainless steel frame which was sealed with fiberglass cloth and pond armor to the wall. then siliconed the 2 inch plastic in place
this tank was completed in 2007