Prepping plants for new tank

[Eggheadfish]

Hi all,
I have an empty tank waiting to be filled and I want to try some live plants this time.
I'm planning on trying to make a java moss carpet. I know it will be unruly and that's what I want. I bought some java moss already but I'm wondering how to "prep" it for the tank. I have it in a huge vase sitting in the window for now hoping it will grow a bit. I've also noticed some snails.
I've read a little about prepping plants with alum, bleach, and peroxide. The guy at the lfs said to let it dry out a little to get rid of the snails, but I have a penchant for killing plants so I'm not so sure about that. If I can't get alum, what's my best bet for preventing introduction of undesired creatures into my tanks? Thanks!

 

[icydeath]

Do you like small loaches? You could house some botia loaches. Also, snails aren't bad as long as you keep them under control.

 

[Eggheadfish]

The tank will be too small for loaches I think. I've never kept them before but I believe they should be kept in groups and get pretty sizeable? The tank is a 35 gallon hex so not a ton of space on the bottom

 

[jetajockey]

This is an interesting subject. One thing I started doing recently on my plant orders is adding a small packet of potassium permanganate for people to pretreat their plants if they choose to do so.

Sent from Peabody's rabbit hole.

 

[F.Sam]

I used to have a pond snail infestation in my tank, i think around 200 snails and more coming everyday... But 3 assassin snails did the cleanup for me in under a month, these guys are killing machines! Now they just eat dead plant material and anything that's left on the bottom. Lovely animals


Sent per three-eyed raven...

 

[icydeath]

I agree with F Sam.

Your smaller floor space would better suit the assassin snails, plus they really are great snails.