None of the above, too much wood in the tank and it's laying down.
In the wild you get fallen logs that lay down on the substrate, and you get tree roots that are standing up (with the roots down in the soil and trunk above). You don't normally get piles of wood like in the pictures.
Try with less wood or have the wood upright (it might need cutting).
I concur with Colin. Though I don't know if you want "natural," (I hope so! because it is usually better for the fish) or what fish are going in this tank, that could make a difference.
Less is more, I have taken out over half of the wood I originally had in my tank, to make way for plants.
Thanks guys I'll take it on board I'm not sure I agree all of them are 'unnatural' perhaps the one with the wood coming out but I do want to something quite natural.
The tank is for Central American Cichlids primarily, a group of Nicaraguan Cichlids. The scape idea with the big branches is inspired a bit by this article -
https
/www.tfhmagazine.com/article...lid-diversity-of-a-volcanic-nicaraguan-island
In particular this bit
The river’s substrate was now completely fine, and before the water depth grew no higher than my ankles I found a young female Hypsophrys nicaraguensis seeking camouflage amongst a congregation of fallen branches and coconut husks.
I can dig a few more out but these are a few videos I was using as reference too
- from about 6 minutes in where there is a fallen tree
. - from 5 minutes with the second habitat of the Sajica
In the wild Nicaraguan Cichlids live mainly near the banks - or rocky islands in the lake. They use their bulbous heads to dig into the banks and build nests and caves for spawning, so I think near the shoreline is the best description. I was imagining some fallen branches that have collected near the shore, since the article above mentions them living in quite shallow water I thought these pile type situations would be similar to that?
@itiwhetu I can see what you mean but I'm not going to achieve that level of planting with these fish, they will constantly turn over the substrate so I will need to have it in pockets of the tank around the hardscape. I'm going to have quite a lot of Valis planted but then rely on things like Java Fern and maybe big Anubias. But thats why I'm heavy with the hardscape as I need lots of breaks in line of sight, areas for territory etc.
I'll definitely take it all on board - I might try a different version of number 1 but without the wood to the left side.
Not sure which way I'm leaning yet. 
