I did something similar but with other kinds of lights. I had a handyman(I'm very unhandy!) put the CF ballast in the middle, and 2 incandescent ballast on either end of a 24 inch strip. One incandescent holds a moonlight for nighttime heat, the other a daytime basking bulb for additionnal day heat when needed. It all sits on an acrylic top and I was afraid of too much heat for the strip or for the acrylic. 2 months after, the sides of the top warped but I had the handyman put more hinges on the end and flip the top over now its flush, no heat issues to my surprise and I have 3 lights in one strip. I hope its not a hazard, but its been like this since May of last year, its kind of nice to have those lights on one strip. When i don't need the heat, I suppose I could use a coil type bulb for more growing light? Maggie