Sourdough noob alert

It’s my 2023 resolution to make my own sourdough. I LOVE sourdough bread but store bought just doesn’t taste as good as it use to.

I need some help with some inconsistent information I’m getting.

I’ve been doing lots of reading. And I got a book from the library….well the book from the library is terrible. This is some of the inconsistent things the book says:

1-The starter calls for 1 cup of flour AND 1 cup of water EVERY feeding. **from what I’m seeing online from others, their water ratio is HALF of the flour ratio. Which one is correct?

2-my starter is sitting out at room temp. The book says to feed it every 24 hours. **Online I’m reading if it’s at room temp to feed it every 12 hours

And lastly, 3-the book NEVER mentions discarding any of the starter. So as I’m feeding and looking ahead at some recipes I’m thinking “this recipe is only needing 1/4 cup starter or 1C started at the most and here I am having 6 cups of a starter?!”

So I woke up today and the amount of hooch on my starter was insane. I should have poured it off but I mixed it. I took half a cup of it and fed it 1C flour and half C water. I’ll see what happens.

Thanks for any and all advice. I’m really excited for this sourdough journey and am prepared to chop this up to a lesson learned.