how is your set up now for a the 46 if u still have it. ive been wnated to upgrade, but compressed co2 is REALLY expensive, and i need to find anotehr way.
how bout lighting? how would u fit more than 2 flourescents, would u need 2 strip lights? if so, there would be no room to put them though....
Here's what I did. Just to be clear, what I have is an All-Glass 46 gallon bowfront tank.
The first thing I did was to buy a new top, and ditch the black plastic one that only has the one thin glass strip to let light through. I bought a top made completely of glass (called the Versa-Top by the All-Glass company) -- for info, it cost roughly $40. This allows you to add wider lights, and more lights.
I was concerned about "too much light" -- for various reasons, I do not want a setup where I "need" to inject CO2. I realized this limited my plant selection, but that was fine with me. So, I scrapped the Compact Flruorescent idea.
Instead, I got a dual-bulb normal output fluorescent light strip. It houses two 30W bulbs, for 60W over 46 gallons. edit: And, I should add that not surprisingly, my plants are doing noticeably better, after just a week or so. I do not inject CO2, but have begun dosing regularly with Flourish Excel.
For info, with the Versa Top, there's room to place two single-bulb strips, rather than one dual-bulb strip. Single strips are generally a lot cheaper.
In fact, there is room for the dual-bulb strip in back, and my original single-bulb strip in front, so at times I do run three bulbs (90W) at a time. But in this case, the single strip sits on the hinged part of the lid (which can be a pain), and just slightly overhangs the corners -- meaning it gets put away when guests come over, according to the Keep the Domestic Peace Rule #32b.
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About CO2, yes a pressurized system can be pretty expensive to start out, but I'm pretty sure the operating costs after that are pretty minimal. You could also run a "DIY CO2" system, which is usually a diffuser, often a reactor, and a couple of soda bottles in which you ferment yeast. A search for "DIY CO2" will probably explain a typical setup.
edit: also, as you may have guessed, builing a good-looking canopy for a bowfront tank is a little trickier. Even if you did this, you'd still want a glass top of some sort under the canopy, as you shouldn't run fluoro bulbs directly over water, for safety reasons.
