thanks that was what I was getting at( do want electronic ballast) I'm no electrician.but my hubby will be doing the putting it together and up.
right now I have a 90 gal but I'm going to get a 215 starfire tank( hopefully by christmas) and I want to use T 5's my lfs guy said I would need at least 12 bulbs. I have a icecap 430 right now running my 2 vho's. so my thoughts were to use that and change encaps to t5 which would do 4x2ft. then get a new ballast equal to icecaps 660 and have 4 x 4 ft. ( tank will be 72" long) that would give me 8 bulbs. ( or would i have to have them equal lengths) then get another ballast for 4 more( can i do 2x2ft ad 2x 4 ft on one ballast. opinions welcomed