Your tank is absolutely stunning! I can only imagine how much hard work (not to mention research) it took to get it to this point.
I know what you mean about photographs embellishing their ability to illuminate a tank, but I never take the stock photos provided by the manufacturer to accurately portray the results you can expect for yourself when you bring the unit home. If I'm not mistaken, the Aqueon LED fixture is a lot cheaper than the Marineland double bright (which is the one that is recommended for aquatic plants) and I imagine it is more like what you really want. However one big appeal is that the color spectrum is adjustable and interchangeable with the Aqueon fixture, since those bars come in spectrums similar to fluorescent bulbs. I haven't seen a Colormax type spectrum (with the more reddish/pinkish hues) available on any of the Marineland fixtures.
Personally, for a 48" tank, I would be very tempted to just use two 20" incandescent strip lights:
http://www.petco.com/product/7395/Aqueon-Incandescent-Strip-Lights.aspx
With 23 watt daylight bulbs.
This would definitely be the cheapest way to go, but if you were worried about heat output and power consumption, LED bulbs such as these could work:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/203991776
They are even dimmable - I think it would be fairly easy to install a dimmer on each strip. Moonlights are nice (and actually, blue LED light bars can be had very cheaply on eBay from China, they work quite well in my experience) but dimmers achieve about the same purpose - winding down, getting ready for bed.