I use $3 soil from superstore. Its an africian mix with verm, pelite, and 3 other things. Simply put, its amazing and maintains water well without added nuts or shit like that. Check out your nearest food store with a garden section, there bound to have some good stuff.

BTW dont cheap out on the soil, when i transplanted my plant from shitty soil to africian goodness, it started to grow like crazy.

Also, keep your plants 18/6 , 16/8 or something inbetween. You can do 24 hour but I personally believe the plant needs rest and needs to be adjusted to a schedule, just like in nature. Best thing is, you can create its daylight/nightlight to whatever you feel like. You could put it out near the window/lights at 6pm-8am til the next morning then hide it in the daytime before you leave to work. Safer too than leaving it out all day.