I mount my spraybars on the side glass, so that it pushes the water across the length of the tank, not into the glass directly in front of it. With the narrowness of the 55 gallon, it takes a little creativity but it's possible - I did it. I also put the intake in the same corner of the tank as the spraybar. I saw a computational fluid dynamics model that demonstrated that that was the best placement of the intake.
I would still get a powerhead though, to put on the opposite side glass, in the back, 2/3 up from the bottom. That will give you the best circulation.
Truthfully though, if you are going to spend money on a powerhead then you might as well get a second canister filter. If you are going to drop money on a powerhead, then why not spend a little more and get the filter? Then you get the added circulation PLUS doubling your filtration capacity.
All of my 4 foot tanks and larger have multiple canisters on them, set up to create a circular flow in the tank. One pushes the water across the front of the tank to the others intake, and the other pushes it back along the back glass to the first's intake. In my experience that is the optimal setup. Of course my experience is with non planted tanks.
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