some help understanding the electric side of things

Can someone help me understand these light controllers?
What do they do?
Will I need an electrician to install it?
Is it necessary?
Is it easier to wire new circuits into my breaker?
Is this going to save me time/money/risk?

more questions to come in this post but I was hoping to get that cleared up first..

not sure what you mean by light controller

need to give more details as to what exactly it is your using so we can help better

http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-Sentinel-HPH-8-High-Power-HID-Controller.asp
http://www.greners.com/i/meters-timers/controllers/light-controllers/cap-16-light-mlc-master-lighting-controller.html

something like one of these?

i would get ahold of a master electrician that you can trust. your going to need to re wire some shit in your house and breaker panel in order to use them and personally i wouldnt feel safe wiring something like that with little to no experience.

sorry i cant help more. good luck with your project

OK, sorry. More details:

We are hoping to have a set up with room to expand to having 8 1000W HPS. obviously can't just plug this into the wall.. I know I will need to get it a 240V circuit with 30+ amps. I just dont know how to do this... Where do i get started learning this stuff?

You need a pro to wire it in for you. You should go 220 as it will handle more lights. If your running 8 lights in a room your going to need 2.5 tons of air or some way to cool.

thats alot of power so that adds alot of risk. best left to an electrician but if you are very mechanically inclined, you could pick up a book on home wiring and add a subpanel to your room. best to hire a pro & tell him you are installing a kiln or arcwelder and need a 220 volt outlet added.