Phantom II ballasts work well, I think they might cost a little more than"avg" ballast cost but are good quality.
My ballast is screwed into the wall ( I think mines only screwed into one stud.) My hood is hung in the tent obviously. Plug hood coord into ballast which will stay connected the whole grow, then you simply have a timer in the outlet and plug ballast to that. My gf and I turn it off manually though..