Hi AnemicOak, welcome to Reefland!
I'm not familiar with the Coralife fixture.
The Aqua-Medic fixtures are designed to be suspended above the tank. It is possible to mount them on some sort of "legs" provided the bottom of the fixture is at least 8" above the water. The manufacturer recommends a minimum of 30 cm (12") above the water but many people cheat and mount them a little closer than than. I have an Aquastarlight Future fixture mounted 11" above the water.
I noticed in the link to Aqua-Medic's site that they now offer the 48" fixtures with electronic ballasts. That might be something to consider. I'm not sure if they mean both sizes (150w AND 250w) or just 150w. I have the 250w size in my Aquastarlight and I can tell you that the onboard magnetic ballasts are very heavy and they cause the fixture to get very hot, so electronic ballasts would certainly go a long way in mitigating those two issues.
I wouldn't be too concerned about your center brace in a 48" tank. It is much more of a problem when someone has a 72" tank with a center brace.
You will have to decide which lighting scheme best suits your needs and your preferences. You do not need to go with the 250w size over your size tank unless you really want to. You can get by perfectly well with the 150w size or even a T5 fixture.
You will have to decide how much money you want to spend. You will have to decide how much trouble you want to put up with in adapting your fixture to your intended "canopy" design. Suspended fixtures are not really intended to be used in fully enclosed canopies. There are a couple of ways to make them work with a canopy. One way is to simply cut a rectangular opening in the top of the canopy just slightly smaller than the dimensions of the fixture and then simply lay the fixture on top of the canopy. Another way is to build a taller canopy with a top that is almost completely open.
One of the fixtures you listed is not shown on Aqua-Medic's website because I think it is only available here in the U.S. That would be the 48" Aquaspacelight with two 250w AB-10000 HQI DE lamps and one 150w 20,000K HQI DE lamp. They make that version by removing the two 24w Osram blue PCs in the middle and replacing them with a 150w 20,000K HQI DE lamp with an electronic ballast. If they are now offering that version with ALL electronic ballasts that would be nice.
Sunlight Supply also has a new fixture that combines DE halides with T5 actinics: http://www.sunlightsupply.com/aquarium/news.shtml
You will soon realize that your decision is going to be restricted more by what is most practical in your particular situation rather than what is "best."



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