7/31 Update with pics and video
Got my shipment of UP Aqua Shrimp Sand yesterday, yay!
The consensus seems to be to rinse it to remove excess dust but I want to work with it dry to lay the scape in the cube, so I dry strained it.
Here is a video of me dry sifting SS, caution my voice may be hideously offensive, at least I think so 
Using a double-screened kitchen strainer, OXO brand I think, I sifted the sand dry in small batches. The results were significant, possibly better than rinsing and definitely faster; it took about 7 minutes to sift one bag.
I started by draining and drying the tank, carefully. I set the wood out to dry off a bit so I can position it in the sand without making a mess. Even bone dry it sunk so I am not worried about it floating when I fill the tank.
Poured some strained SS into my tank and evened it out to about 1.5" or 3cm depth.
The Plan
At this point I am thinking about mocking up the layout of the tank, scape the terrain, and position the driftwood and rocks. I suspect I will have a only moderate slope, higher in the rear right corner and gracefully slope down towards the front left corner, about 3/4" total elevation change. I'm not sure the SS will hold more of a grade without a bed (read Eco Complete) to hold it in place.
Once I reality check the layout, it's so much smaller in the cube than on paper, I will purchase plants. I was thinking about tying some plants (Anubias nana) and java moss to the DW; unless I find some xmas moss
The foreground will be sparsely planted Cryptocoryne parva or Echinodorus tenellus. The background will be Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae or a similar dwarf grass or sword. Not sure how much of any of that stuff will actually fit...
Here is a first pass at hardscaping:
After I finalize the layout, I will plant it, fill the tank w conditioned water, and run it for a week with plants before starting a shrimp-less cycle.
Any comments, suggestions or harassing remarks are appreciated
