Help!!! IMMEDIATE milky water

Hi,

I'm a complete novice, but have read extensively about starting a new
tank, but...I've come across a problem where all my Internet searching
has been inconclusive.

I got a new tank, a 12g Neo Cube, and a bag of this reddish "Fluorite"
gravel. The gravel was FILTHY. The first rinses gave off water almost
like crude oil--black and murky. I rinsed it for about an hour, and
when it was only giving off a slight brownish color while rinsing (I
guessed it was particulate matter that would eventually settle), I
dumped it into my tank, seated my plants, and added water. The water
was completely cloudy. I should add I added some pH adjuster to the
water, at the amount suggested for a new tank. Did not check the pH.
Ran the filter overnight, and in the morning (about 10 hrs later), it
was still very cloudy (only a tiny bit better).

I then took all the gravel out and rinsed it in small batches with a
fine-knit colander. It took forever, but the gravel should have been
utterly immaculate at this point. I then added the newly-cleaned
gravel back into the tank, added my plants, and added water. MILKY
AGAIN. I want to make it clear this can not be a bacterial bloom or
ammonia cycling--it was IMMEDIATE and there were no fish in it.

I checked the pH of my again-milky water and it was around 8-8.5. (My
tap water is around 9) I used the pH buffer, quite a bit of it, to
bring it down to about 7.5. Still milky. The milkiness is more
"misty", where you can see the currents from the pump--there's a tiny
bit of an oily sheen on the surface, but very little. There are some
small bubbles on the plants, but the water doesn't seem to have any
bubbles in it, and after 10 hrs, any bubbles should have left, right?

The water was about 80F going in, and has a heater & thermometer. The
water seemed to be clear coming out of the faucet.

Am I just being impatient? I want the water to be in perfect condition
before I put my first fish in (about 5 golden barbs), hopefully in a
week.

Any advice, even the "don't worry about it!", would help this newbie!

Jason