What kind of tank is best

I think bow fronts are very nice, I'd love to have one. I don't think there are any negatives or safety issues about them, they're fine.
Ebo Jager heaters are a good selection, too. Virtually unbreakable and very durable and accurate.
Sorry, can't help with the other two.

Virtually unbreakable and very durable and accurate.

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Although some larger fish may easily bust the glass. If you're planning to have larger fish then i recommend a titanium heater.

Plants

It is probably harder to keep plants then it is fish

pick a cheepish plant with a few big leaves to start of with and look into plan fertaliser for fish tanks and plant condidtions. you will also need a specialish type globe to simulate daylight


SubH8U

The only negative aspect of a bowfront that I can think of would be that they cost more and you could get a larger rectangle tank for the same price

I use Penguin filters and have had great luck with them so far. Many people say to get Emperor filters instead, they are a higher quality version of the Penguins. Might check into that. I've not used an Emperor yet personally, but plan to try one next filter purchase I make.

The bowfront aquariums do look neat, but they require a special stand and hood. A 50g or 55g rectangle may be less spectacular, but stands are more available and you can either buy a decent hood or go the DIY route. Either way you will need a decent amount of lighting for plants. In a low tech planted tank you can use regular small gravel and get a 2 bulb kitchen type light fixture from your favorite hardware store in the 4' range. Please make certain to measure carefully before you buy. If you have glass tops on your aquarium you can buy the most basic light strip for about $10. If you don't have glass tops you will need to make certain your light strip has a shroud of some sort so figure about $30 to start. Also a shrouded light will probably be a bit longer.

Depending upon your actual needs you may want to consider a larger heater. It really depends upon how cold you let it get in your house. The digital thermometer sounds nice, but might be overkill. I guess that just depends upon how much you want to spend. As for your filter choice. I used to have a penguin 330 on my aquarium with no problems. It was just that I needed to clean it out fairly often and the splashy noise eventually drove me bonkers. For a better choice look into a lower cost cannister type filter. I use a Fluval 404 myself and have been very happy with it. If you don't realize already save yourself some money and buy one online.

Now getting back to plants. With 80 watts of lighting over my 50g aquarium I am growing compacta swords, 3 species of crypts, and java fern currently with a gravel substrate. As for fertilizer I have flourish and flourish iron. If I didn't have the swords I probably wouldn't use the iron supplement though. One important piece of equipment here is a digital timmer. Start with about 10 hours of lighting and go from there. If you are setting up a community tank look for otocinclus. If you have room for them 3 of these small catfish can keep algae from getting out of had.

One last thing I didn't mention above. Don't use cool white flourescent lights. Look at your local hardware store carefully and you should be able to find flourescent lighting in the 6500k range. I use a philips brand aquarium plant tube (pinkish when lit) along with a 6500k (blue when lit) philips bulb. Together they cost me $15 and when used together pink bulb towards the back they look just fine in the aquarium. The pink wall behind the aquarium took a bit of getting used to though.

thats probably a 46 gallon bowfront.

i have the same tank - it is very nice, it's big enough for you to keep a decent fish load, but it's a show-type of tank so it looks good too. only problem for growing plants would be that it's a fairly tall tank - 20" high i think, so you may need to get extra lighting.

im not in any way disapointed that i got that tank, but looking back i wish i had gone for a 40 gallon breeder instead. ah well.