Affordable Circulation Options?

[Rikko]

You could try the DIY Maxiket Stream mod.. It's probably an afternoon's work and I've only heard great things about it.
Barring that, SEIOs aren't that bad for their price point, but they aren't particularly random.

I've got random flow with my Maxijets hooked up to a wave timer and with the outputs sawn off (so when they start up the water flows out either hard left or hard right).

I agree with the clutter - it all looks so great until the powerheads start getting coralline all over them.