Not ever had to sand a ripe Cycad seed⦠just leave then on a moist, warmed surface, and when root pops out, let them root on their own (I don't move them at all)⦠root finds its way into the soil. Once well rooted, then you can add a tad more soil if you want (not necessary normally).

I've sprouted a lot of Cycas seed and never had a situation where a "clear liquid oozed out". I wouldn't hold out too much hope for it. The seeds have a hard but thin shell around them. This is coated with a thin sort of a 'fruit'. Some people remove that 'fruit' part although it's not that easy, especially if it has dried. The shell around the actual seed doesn't need to be nicked or sanded, it splits away as the radicle emerges. You'd want to have them in a very deep pot, the radicle goes down a long way before any leaves begin to emerge. An inverted large plastic soft drink bottle with the bottom cut out can be good for that. Only one large drain hole but plenty of depth for the roots. What climate are you in?

Hi, thanks for your replies. I am a novice at planting cycad seeds as you can tell. Climate is humid 24 to 35 deg cel. It said on the pack to sand 1 to 2 mm off the outside of the seed then soak in water for 6 to 8 hrs prior to planting.

The problem is that if these seeds were picked at the usual time, about a month or two ago, the embryos still need to grow to full size until July. This means no matter what you do, it will not even think about possibly germinating until July. So soaking it in water when it needs to stay only slightly moist makes the endosperm swell out, and rot. Thinning down the hard shell makes it absorb more moisture, which is fine when it is ready to sprout, but right now, maybe made it explode trying to release all the extra water out of the seed.
If you get more seeds, don't clean the fruit off until July. Clean them when the embryos are full size, then soak them for a few hours in warm water and plant them in sterile medium ( I use pure white sand) so that half the seed is in the medium, but the crack is just above the medium, this reducing the chances of rot. No need to sand down the shells on sago seeds. Cycad thoursii, I might think about.

ok thanks