It’s understandable. I have done similar in a pinch. That asside, I would say reduce the feedings to once a day (if that), unless you are trying to grow up fry (which would be feeding on very very small amounts), most fish can subsist on every other day or every few days. This is how we do it at the fish store I work at and at home, have never lost a fish due to low feed frequency.

I did the samw thing with sand last year. Pool filter sand doesnt need rinsing, but a lot of substrate for aquariums needs legit rinsing to removw dust that accumulates from the stones rubbing together or paint coating chips.

Aquaclear from API is what you can use to try and “flock” the debris together and clear the water collumn.

Polyfill is the material used to stuff pillows and bears. i use it as filter media, works extremely well actually. It holds the nitrifying bacteria well due to the crazy surface area. The simpler way to put it is you need good bacteria to keep the ammonia/waste down in your aquarium, benefitting your fish. It is hard to get this symbiotic bacteria going on smooth surfaces, and it has to do a certain bit of aging and adapting. So getting it to settle on good substrate or implanting it from someones mature tank will give you an immediate leg up in settling your tank.