250 watt HQI ballast.

[powerboy]

cannot even imagine putting all that on one breaker! For me, you just described at least 3 or 4 separate breakers.

just illustrating how easy it is to eat up power


[/quote]If I were having a professional fish room set up, I'd probably look at 220 for the lighting, but not for anything else. And remember the rule.. (which I forget) but isn't it like.. never run more than 80% of your breakers rating on one line? IE, if you're running a 20amp breaker, never run more than 16 amps on that line. [/quote]

you would want to run whatever you could off the 220v. ie whatever device could run @ 220v.

and yes, 20% is the safety margin employed in todays breakers.

and just because you run the initial line 220v, doesnt mean you cant then branch off again to 110V