1. I'd advise 7 days a week if you could. I try to do it as many days as possible. Do it one hour a day, no more, no less, unless it's a special occasion and you want to impress a special someone with a bit more girth, then go for another 30 minutes. I do 2 [words=https://officialhydromaxpump.com/?uid=6&oid=2&affid=98 ]x 30[/words] minute sessions and I have found these to be the best for me. Experiment with the time that is best for you. The most important thing for you to do when pumping is DON'T GO OVER 4 hg, it really won't help, and might actually hurt you in the long run. Around 3 hg is like bread and butter for me, and I often hover right around it. You should feel like you're getting slightly sucked off, but not sucked on. After a month of experimenting you will know what I mean by the sucked off, sucked on feeling.
2. No, add pumping as a supplement if you can. Don't quit other exercises if you don't have to.
3. It's better to be hard, trust me, you can just feel it. But it's fine if you are "soft", as you will still have a forced hardon, as the CC and CS are still expanded beyond the soft size based on how much pressure you have.
You don't need to stay hard manually in the pump, I usually just let it sit.