UPDATE!
Went over to the lovely petsmart today to get a few decorations, SNAIL FREE plants, a new pH kit and a temperature meters. Then onto Petco to get much higher quality plants and a few "feeder" goldfish. (I actually got some very pretty ones).
Pictures!
Again, sorry for the red tint to my pictures. Added a little sandy colored rock cave to the "beach" as I'm now calling it and another little cave to the small sand pool. Also added three different varieties of plants. (And have two more to plant, but not sure on the placement yet.)
Here's a close-up of the sand pool and cave. Also, the prettiest of my 15cent goldfish was put into the tank as a tester. Cute little guy with pretty fins. If he lives long enough my mom's going to put him in the outdoor small pond we have. (which is much more appropriate for a goldfish than a tropical tank)
And here's the Beach, along with some living and fake (attached to the decoration) plants.
OTHER UPDATES
Put two feeder fish in the tub with the wood. I tested the pH levels and everything and it all checked out so if they quickly die I'll be pretty sure it'll be due to the toxicity of the wood, although I'm pretty sure it's cypress.
Also, I actually like the look of blood parrot fish just because they're so derpy. The ones that are deformed are very sad though, and I did know they had a lot of issues due to inbreeding. They actually had a good sized one at petco today that looked perfectly fine (but was 25$ eeek).
I think one of them would add a lot of color and interest to my tank. I've also decided against a BGK because I really don't think I'll have the space for it. I like to give my fish at least the potential to grow to their full size and he wouldn't be able to in my 55. So we'll see what kind of fishies I get.