not for growing pot.. sand is never an option as a medium. the sand wont cut the insets or larva it mainly smothers them and also your soil. if your humidity is around 50-60 in veg or even 40-60 you can eliminate that, root problems wont really cause that unless theyre getting dried out and effecting the plant that way if thats not the issue you can cross that off, do you have it vented? just a fan isnt enough you need air coming in and pushing the hot out. and not everytime will a leaf come out flat when its a new leaf forming do you have a pic? may be normal new growth