Java Fern

Given that I have high nitrates in my tap water and following advice off here, I have bought 2 pieces of java fern on wood. Am I ok to put these straight in my tank or do I wash them in any way?  I have not put them in yet so if anyone can help a quick reply would be appreciated.
Also what do I do regarding feeding?

Thanks Jesnon, I didn't really want to go down this route but if it helps my nitrates so be it, as long as my water stays ok. Out of interest how long can I keep them out of water?

Why didn't I think of that 

Hi Andy,

Great to hear you're nearly there with your cycle. Look forward to hearing what fish you get..... and seeing some pics in the gallery 

I always recommend new plants to be thoroughly washed in a bucket of dechlorinated water before putting them into the tank. This is moreso when you have fish, particularly shrimps. I personally leave the plants in the bucket for 24 - 48 hours, with a small filter running, containing polyfilter. Though I am particularly paranoid about new plants because I experienced losing all my shrimps after adding new plants straight to the tank. Some plant suppliers use chemicals to rid the plants of snails. Ironically, it doesnt necessarily work and you still get hitch-hikers make it into your tank. But the chemicals can still be lurking on your new plants which isnt welcomed by the livestock.

The batch I bought had just been delivered to the shop. Maybe if they had been there a couple of days before I bought them, they would have been OK? I dont know. But Ive never risked it since 

Putting your plants in now is no problem. Dont panic Mr.Mannering! My post was meant as advice for future reference after you get fish  As I said, leaving the plants in a bucket for a couple of days with a filter may be considered to be over the top. But after witnessing my poor shrimps die the way they did, Im a little over-cautious!

Live plants are always worth trying. Apart from looking nicer than plastic, they do have several parts to play in the eco-system.

But chances are, you'll get snails! Sorry 

No matter how much you rinse & wash plants, you're likely to get a hitch-hiker make it through. But believe it or not, snails arent necessarily a bad thing. They'll help eat any bits of food lurking in the gravel. Consequently if you're overfeeding the fish, you'll get an explosion of snails. You could treat that as a warning that you're putting in too much food and thus cut back on the amount you feed. This can be especially helpful when you first start keeping fish. It takes quite a while to get used to how much food to put in and even then its easy to put in too much sometimes!

Also, some species of snails are even more helpful than that. I happened to get Malaysian Trumpet Snails hitch-hike into my tank. They're great at helping to keep the gravel stirred around which helps avoid "dead spots" occuring in the gravel. Dead Spots (actually, I dont think thats the right name for it, but I'll go with that for now LOL!) are areas within the gravel where pockets of gasses can build up if the gravel isnt stirred around every so often. Also, I have read that Malaysian Trumpet Snails are a great warning system if something is badly wrong with the water. If the snails swarm up the glass in their droves during the day, then something is not right. (They clamber up the glass at night but go down in the gravel by day). I actually love my MTS!

(note, gravel around the plants is generally OK. Its the unplanted areas that need to be stirred)

Fingers crossed you get the green light for fish Tuesday! 

You won't lower your nitrates with two Java Fern plants. Plants can lower nitrates but you need to plant a lot of fast growing plants. Java Fern just do not grow anything like fast enough, and two are far too few in any case. You need fast growing plants such as Hygrophilia Polysperma or Elodea or Cabomba to name a few.

SteveS beat me to it, but I'll add that floating plants are good nitrate removers as well. I have Amazonian Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) which grows like buggery (technical term) and eats Nitrates really quickly. I throw a couple of handfuls in the compost bin every week. It also supplies cover and shade which is very much appreciated by the fish. It makes them feel much more secure.

Warning: Don't get any Frogbit in the local ponds or streams etc. It's a massive weed and very invasive. It's banned in some US states and costs millions of dollars to control in their waterways.