1. It is always important to drink lots of water. A hard training athlete should be drinking 5-6L of clean water per day, minimum.
2. There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to creatine supplementation. There is no need to load or cycle creatine. Supplement with 5-10g per day. When you take the creatine doesn't matter but ideally you would supplement with creatine pre and post workout, as your body is most inclined to absorb nutrients at this time. Supplementing with creatine post workout will also help replenish depleted creatine phosphate stores from your workout. I really like the creatine formula Ancient Strength from n2bm.com. Each serving contains 5g of creatine monohydrate, creatine HCL and creatine pyruvate blend. Take 1 serving pre workout and 1 serving post workout. http://needtobuildmuscle.com/store/Pre-Post-Workout-Supps/Ancient-Strength-p273.html
Supplemental creatine is nothing more then the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine synthesized together. It is not a hormone and does not require a PCT (post cycle therapy).
1. There is no need to load creatine.
2. It is always a good idea to drink plenty of water when using most compounds.
3. Creatine is a non-hormonal agent, nor is it toxic, so no PCT is needed after using it.
you should always drink a lot of water.. the more the merrier
as far as cycling creatine, don't believe the myth that it is dangerous for your kidney's.. can it effect your kidney values? yes. but that is because it is in your system. so stop taking it 2 weeks before you test and you will see your kidney's are fine even if you took it for 10 years straight