Help With My Tank Layout?

[Hadexicon]

I'm sorry to be "that guy" but can I ask what size the tank is and future plans for the Oscar?

Loll its a 55 gallon long, the Oscar is 4 years old and not growing any larger so yea only thing I'm worried about is the 2 plecos.

I know oscars can (and often will) play merry hell with live plants, but I am wondering if you put in bulk numbers of plants all at once, if that might curb an oscars natural destructive tendancies. Also try to use plants that apparently taste horrid, like Java fern or tough leaves like already suggested Anubis.
I know on places like Ebay you can often get good bulk deals on some of the more common plants for tanks and not have to pay the inflated prices of shops. And the bonus is the plants are delivered to your door.
If you do decide to get some live plants make sure they are true aquatic plants, many shops (and some private sellers) sell common garden plants as aquarium plants which are almost certain to fail terribly in a tank.

I put some random plant from pet co. In and it's been alive so yea I think it will be fine

 

[Hairy_Trev]

So I have been in the hobby with this tank for about 4 years but for some reason I can't get a tank to look how I want, I have bought plenty of props and no matter what it never turns out the way I like, I've had this tank like this for about a month and I don't like it, does anyone have some suggestions on how I can make my tank look a little bit better? I usually like the natural or realistic look. Thanks.

Photos of my tank on imgur:
http/imgur.com/a/lqmUF

 
 
I've had a quick look at your pics and can understand what you mean.. although I don't think it's unattractive I will agree that it doesn't look natural... however, the suggestions I'd make seem to have already come from others too...
 
I don't know of anywhere where you find multicolourred gravel except in rivers flowing past a chemical processing plant so my first suggestion would be to replace this with a more natural broown/white gravel or a sand. My tank has white sand, although yellow or black can be bought too. I'd suggest a lighter colour.
 
Second thought... the piece of bogwood is very striking, but a little overpowering. It becomes the focus point of the tank... perhaps putting it at the back in one corner and the majority of the stones in the opposite rear corner... leave the main central area fairly clear although maybe a couple of small stones...
 
Third... I totally agree that natural plants really set off a tank. Too much and it'll make the fish harder to see, but too little and it'll look bare.. aim for the decorations to go around the edges of the tank leaving a clearing at the front for easy viewing.
 
My final thought, (simply because I'm totally hooked on doing this having had such good results with my first attempt) is to make a 3D background. There are a multitude of clips on youtube for ways of doing this usiing polystyrene tiles. I created a 'rock wall' to go around three sides of my tank as a first attempt when I took up the hobby 2 months ago. A breif summary of the process I used:
 
1: Cut polystyrene sheets to cover the inside of the tank on the back and both sides, possibly also a sheet to part cover the bottom rear section.
 
2: Cut a sheet of polystyrene into strips, approx 20-30mm wide or to suit your chosen depth of background.
 
3: On the first strip, mark out and cut the line to follow the contours you desire... this will become your template.
 
4: On remaining strips, mark out using the template the cut line BUT use the line a s guide cut either inside or outside the line.
 
5: Stack and glue the strips up the back of the tank, gluing each one to each other and the rear poly panel (or sides) using silicon sealant. DO NOT USE BATHROOM SILICONE - IT HAS AN ANTI BACTERIA ADDITIVE AND WILL KILL YOUR FILTER. BUY FROM YOUR AQUATIC SUPPLIER
 
6: Give the final polystrene consturction coats of cement/mortar. Make the first mix the consistency of single cream, second coat a more pasty texture and and further coats of cream texture.
 
7: leave the final construction to rinse for several days to wash out any minerals from the cement. Put it in your tank, fill and several hours later the water will be cloudy... drain it and repeat as many times as needed until the water remains clear.
 
Do a youtube search for "3D aquarium background" for other ideas.
 
I only returned to the world of fish keeping 2 months ago, but this was the first thing I wanted to do with my new tank.. I'm proud of my first attempt... I'll see if I can get a photo onto my profile for you to make your own mind up...

 

[Hairy_Trev]

With the sand I can't buy real aquarium sand in my town due to it being a small town, and my Walmart being my LFS but Is just normal sand from sandbags still usable? If so I can probably find that at Walmart, about the plants I have a few green plants in my native tank but they kinda need to stay in there because my small sunfish has made his nest under them. I could make a special trip to get these, I have looked through some similar sized tanks (55-75) and found some that I have really liked so I might try to go with those designs, I was thinking maybe move the log over to the right side and put the rocks all together along with some extra greenery, but then the problem stands that the log looks naked and ideas?

 
 
I've just noticed a further comment in this discussion.... your reference to Walmart suggests to me that you're in the states? I'm in UK but I found several companies over here which supply plants online. I ordered from them and was very impressed with the service. The plants arrived in very good condition, very well packed and the price was about the same as my local store... something to consider.
 
With reference to sand, again this can be bought online but the weight might put the postage costs up. I don't recommend builders sand as builders don't care what other nasties, chemicals or pollutants are in there. The cheap option would be to get hold of 'playsand'.. the kind of stuff you put in your children's play area for making sand castles. Another option I've heard about is that sand is often used in swimming pool or hot tub filters. Again this is likely to be cleaner as it's designed to be used around people and not bricks!
 
Your local garden centre may provide alternatives ideas. Varying sizes of pebbles or gravel can be bought... my brother used grey  slate chippings in his aquarium

With the sand I can't buy real aquarium sand in my town due to it being a small town, and my Walmart being my LFS but Is just normal sand from sandbags still usable? If so I can probably find that at Walmart, about the plants I have a few green plants in my native tank but they kinda need to stay in there because my small sunfish has made his nest under them. I could make a special trip to get these, I have looked through some similar sized tanks (55-75) and found some that I have really liked so I might try to go with those designs, I was thinking maybe move the log over to the right side and put the rocks all together along with some extra greenery, but then the problem stands that the log looks naked and ideas?

 
 
Oh.. forgot to mention... yes... the log does look bare... common plant ideas are Java Ferns or java moss, or my personal choice - Anubius Nana (or Nana Bonsai depending on your tank size). DO NOT plant these into the gravel but instead, simply bind or tie them onto the wood surface using dark cotton. The two plants on my bogwood were attached in this manner.

 

[Baccus]

I would not put java moss in with an oscar, simply because moss has a tendancy to get broken off easily and belines to the filter and clogs the intake. At times I even regret putting java moss in with my non-plant destroying corydoras simply because as the corys bumble through it looking for snacks they end up tearing it off its logs etc its attached to. Adding it to a tank with a fish that may take exception to logs or rocks being covered in moss is asking for trouble IMO.
Java fern, anubis even bolbotis are better options.