I'm a fan of the cheap plastic containers that you find at big box home improvement stores. They are small, have "lips" on them for the water to fall off of, and can be easily decorated. To make sure the water comes out flat, you need to maintain laminar flow and also that the water isn't rough at the bottom. Try to add some sort of device to prevent turbulant flow in the tubs, either with porrus materials, or some sort of rock or something that'l stop the waves.
Sorry if my words didn't present a very good mental image, it's kind of hard to describe the things in creating fountains. It's a personal hobby of mine. Go pick up some books, IM me if you want, fountains are cool!
