Mike K wrote in message ...
As a newbie with a 55 gal tank less than 1 week old, I have what it probably
a very basic question: what techniques do you guys use when it come time to
prune your tanks? Is it a constant battle of uprooting, pruning and
replanting? Especially with bunch plants? How do you do it with an extremely
heavily planted tank?

Battle? Did you pay for those plants? Then growing them fast ,means
you could/should trade them to the LFS for food, credit etc.
Fast healthy growing plants are a lot like a farm.

I uproot most all stem plants and trim off the bottom older portion
and cut right below the first node with roots coming out of them.
Swords, crypts and other basal portion plants simply have the oldest
outer leaves removed if they become unattractive. The runners that
come off swords/crypts are simply cut and replanted elsewhere or sold
off.

One method is pruning one side one week and the other side the next.
Another is adding some slow growing plants like Anubias/crypts etc to
say 30%( more or less) of the tank. Adding rock work, driftwood with
plants attached to these also reduced work loads.

Using foreground plants for 30-50% of the tank also reduces trimming
since these plants don't get tall. But they do requie maintenance.

A number of book like Barron's Aquatic plant manual/James Aquarium
Plants etc have good sections on basic items and are don't cost much.

Regards,
Tom Barr