I had Eloda, Bacopa, Vallis, borneo sword, some type of dwarf sword and some
giant hygrophilia in my 20Gal tank along with two silk plants in the back
corners. (about 1.5 watts of light per gallon) but it was looking really
shabby, the plants didn't look too good, I was adding liquid fertiliser once
a week and tablets every two weeks. then I started to get an increase in
algae. I got really fed up with the tank and have completely redesigned it
(it took me about three hours) I kept some of the good strands of eloda, the
borneo swords and the dwarf swords, the giant hygro and a few vallis strands
.. I then bought a load more eloda, a load of what I believe is hornwort,
some hygro polysperma (not the giant sort and not difformis) and some more
bacopa, (my other bacopa had god roots but only about two leaves). since
buying that lot I have lost a load of the hygro and added a load back and
bought some cabomba. The hornwort I spent a week and a half planting it only
to find it had come out the next day so I've gave up and left it floating. I
have also cut back on the fertiliser. I will be getting some more plants but
I have the bulk of what I want. I am now pleased with my tank, and my algae
problem is on the mend!

My question is about pruning and the best way for each type of plant. this
is what I am doing at the moment.

The eloda: If it is uprooted or I can see the base is not looking too good,
I trim about two inches off the base and replant the top, either throwing
the base away or leaving it floating. If the base is fine or I can't get to
uproot it with out disturbing the rest I cut the top away then either
replant or if less than about two inches I leave it floating.

The Hygro polysperma: At the moment I just prune in my gourami tank, as I've
not had any luck in my big tank. All I do here is snip a few inches off the
top. no uprooting or anything.

Vallis: cut the larger leaves back, use to do it half way up the leaf but
now try to cut it off nearer the base.

That's it for pruning that's all I do, my questions - am I doing the pruning
the correct way, or should I always uproot the plants?

secondly how do I trim such plants as the cabomba, can this be trimmed from
the top or does it not take too kindly to this and should be uprooted.
Hornwort, again is this just like a typical stem plant?
I have never trimmed the giant hygro, (a couple of it's leaves have a bit of
algae but nothing drastic) but it will need to be trimmed soon, how do I do
this? I have read that if it reaches the top of the water it will shed it's
leaves, and flower, while this would be good to see, it's taken me so long
to grow it I'm afraid of it losing its leaves.!
The bacopa again just a typical stem plant?
and what about the borneo swords?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to read and answer this

Stu