You kind of answered the question yourself. The bigger the pot, the less you should have to water.
I grow my plants in pots smaller than party cups or up to 5 gal containers. Just depends on what I feel like trying.
Wait until it gets pretty damn dry. You're gonna think "man that's pretty dry", wait like 12 more hours and then water it. You can start (I start) giving a cloning (rooting) solution from the very first watering. It's a very light nutrient though. I start adding nutrients (use FFOF soil now...
To be honest, the standing water is what almost killed it, not your boyfriend. Overwatering can be a HUGE problem, especially for a plant that isn't even considered a plant yet (in most minds).
It's because you need to put it into some new FFOF soil. IMHO if you're mixing your FFOF with other soils, you should already be supplementing with some liquid nutes. Just my opinion. I know when my plants start looking like that I have to transplant to fresh FFOF and they take off like no tomorrow.