Adding new substrate

I have black Seachem flourite in one of my tanks and it's looking a little bare. I don't think I have the depth required for some of my plants to root properly and a lot of the flourite has been unintentionally sucked up during biweekly gravel vacs. I've gotten much better at hovering over the sand and not sucking up as much, but I still need to replace some.

What's the best way to add new flourite when the tank is inhabited? I can't just dump it in there. I know the new substrate will cloud the water no matter what I do, but if I can control some of it that would be great!

 

Drain as much water as you can and stick a long plastic funnel in the water so the mouth is above the surface and the bottom hovers right above the existing substrate. Slowly pour the new stuff in with a cup. It will take a while, but should keep it from getting too cloudy. I saw a YouTube video about this a while back.

 

I've seen that too but my issue with flourite is that you have to rinse the ever loving you-know-what out of it before you put it in the tank, or else you're talking CLOUD CITY for days. And days. And days. I worry that the flourite will clump up inside the funnel. But I'll give it a shot anyway! Thanks.

 

Not familiar with fluorite but if it's like regular sand could you rinse and rinse then grab handfuls and place gently on the floor? Low water level and hand placement should keep stir up minimal.

 

That's how I added it to begin with but it still caused cloudiness that lasted for days. I didn't want to over rinse the substrate and lose all of the minerals in it so I used spring water to rinse it instead of tap water full of chloramine. I'm guessing I just didn't rinse it enough but I ran out of bottled water, lol.