Ready to cycle "i think"

OK, water has been in for a month now, and all pumps and lights and sump seems to be working great. No leaks, floods, overflows, etc. even with a power failure. I started with dry rock and sand, mixed salt in the tank seven days ago. The temp. is 78 to 80 deg. with no heater or chiller. My thoughts are to put a raw shrimp in the tank and get one or two premium live rocks and my LFS said they would donate a couple of cups of sand out of their tanks to seed with when I purchased the rock. After these additions is when I should start the water testing as the cycle takes its place. Am I on the right path ? or am I messing up ? Thanks for taking a brand newby by the hand.

 

sounds like you're good to go...i would go ahead and get some sort of temperature control device though..heater or chiller depending on your lighting/room temp..you're definitely doing the right thing by going slow and figuring what you need to do! K+ for that!

edit: with the live rock..you really don't NEED the shrimp in there..it may get things going faster for you though

 

If you mail order Live Rocks, there would be plenty of things dying off from the LR themselves. No need to put dead shrimp or live stock.

 

I'll be getting the LR at my LFS, about 15 miles away.