It would need some some source of ammonia as well as some sort of airation. A simple bubbler should be sufficient for agitation the water surface, and you could just throw some flake in the bucket and let it decompose (but this will cause a mess). You could also put a raw shrimp in a panty house and then stick that in the bucket, it will decay and add ammonia but will be easy to retrieve as well (will probably smell awful).
But I think that you may encounter the bacteria going anaerobic, since it is likely going to be a very deep amount of sand in the bucket. Some people will argue for and against deep sand beds, along with the purported dangers of h2s generated from the anaerobic activity.
Either way, I would reccomend you try and get it in a tank, with your water setup, and have the filtration running.
PLUS... it will allow time for the sand to settle as it usually clouds up the water on initial setup.
*edit* dwitt beat me to it.
