adding sand with water

Not really. The best way that I have found is to rinse the sand thoroughly under water in a bucket. Then dump out all the water and put the wet sand in your tank. Once you have all the sand in there that you want, put your hand in the bottom of the tank and gently pour the water over your hand. Use your hand throughout that rest of the filling of the tank.

I did this with my new set up and my water was crystal clear when I finished filling up the tank.
 
The way I do it is as follows:

First you have to find/buy a clean container that you have not used with chemicals or soap. The container should be small enough so you are able to lower it into your aquarium.

I then fill the container with sand and rinse it very well.

I then lower the container into the bottom of the tank and tip it and pour the sand where I want it. You will have to repeat this several times depending on how much sand you are adding. There will be some cloudiness, no matter how well the sand is rinsed and how carefully you pour the sand.

If you have a good filter the cloudiness will clear up in less than a day. HTH
 
The play sand is perfectly fine. It does have a lot of stuff in it that will cloud your water if you don't rinse it well enough, but as long as you rinse it well and are careful when pouring water in, it shouldn't cloud your water.
 
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