Question about settling sand?

[linacrossing]

I just set up a 10 gallon, freshwater aquarium yesterday. I used sand for the terrain, but forgot to rinse the sand before I added all the water to it. I put the sand in around 7pm last night and this morning at 10am the water is still very cloudy. The filter didn't run last night, but now it is running. Will the sand never settle because I forgot to rinse it? Do I just need to give it more time? Any suggestions as to what I should do?

I just used Petco brand sand

 

[KingLover82]

I bought the black Petco sand and it took a long time to rinse. If it were me, and there are no fish in the tank, I'd empty it and rinse it out. If there are fish, well...I'm stumped. Sorry.

 

[librarygirl]

It'll settle eventually, just give it more time. In the meantime you can do some water changes to clear up the water but try not to disturb the sand or it'll just cloud up more.

 

[AaronW]

I would just rinse it! Sand is a pain in the butt

 

[TOMatt]

Before I sanded my aquarium, i put 55lbs into 2 5gallon buckets. It took an hour or so to rinse, using this method: Sand Washing/Rinsing Tutorial. My sand hasn't clouded the water at all after this.

If you don't have fish in yet, it might be worth emptying the water and washing the sand.