What I have done in the past and will continue to do in the future is use aged water from another system this coupled with cured live rock. By doing so in the past I have virtuously no cycle.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by MandarinFish:
<strong>should I add some food (namely dead fish) to my DSB before adding live sand?</strong><hr></blockquote>
You don't have to. I never did. I just added sand and live rock. Wait for the tank to cycle and add fauna kits and sand from other tank. There is plenty of nutrients in the stuff that you do add into the tank. Dead fish or shrimp is not needed.