hey dizzy

i believe the ballast and ignitor can be up to 10 feet from the socket so i wouldnt worry much if its going to be rather close by.

i have never used a PH tester with my grows all though i do have one i find it a unnessasary item unless you do hydro, i just know exactly how much PH up i need when i add nutes plus i go out of my way and by distilled water and add Cal-Mag Plus to it, add my nutes, 7 drops of PH up BAM 6.5

if i was to use tap water i would break out the PH testing.