Is this brown jelly?

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Just to add, I did perform a coral dip on everything. Also, here is a better picture now that it is in another dip, before QT

That coral is dead. I'm sorry.

 

[Fishy888]

Very experienced reefers can do things but the most of us are novice and learning. Obviously if you water change and test weekly you are better prepared but the problem is month after month your tank is evolving and maturing. Algae that develops affects your parameters. Coral growth affects parameters. Coraline starting affects parameters. Increasing fish or coral stocking affects parameters. Etc.... you will see as the months move on how things change weekly as you test. When my tank hit the one year mark it went through an evolution. It was like my biome kicked into high gear. Everything came alive and vibrant, flourishing. The tank became much more stable and predictable. You will see the same. It's ok to add some basic easy corals and see how they go but try and avoid pricy more difficult pieces early on or you might find its money wasted. Obviously you are a diligent reefer but give your tank time to develop biodiversity and microfauna and your coral success rate will greatly improve.

^^^This! My rock has been in several tanks over the last year but has only been in my current tank for 3 months. As a result I have soft corals and mushrooms currently with one hard coral, a duncan frag that started out with 2 heads about 4 months ago and now has 5. I’ll get something like a trumpet coral next. If that does good for at least a month then I’ll likely go for some micromussa and so on.

There’s coralline just starting to grow on an old snail shell that’s been in the DT for quite a while. There’s also some just coming in on one rock but it’s in two very small patches. Once the system stabilizes enough that coralline is everywhere then it’s SPS time. Patience is key. I’ve rushed things before and it never works out well in the end.

 

[Fishy888]

Also research whatever corals or anemones you ultimately want to keep. Whether it’s SPS, LPS, softies, or a mixed reef you want find out what you need to make it thrive. Once you do that research what you’ll need to get your system there and to keep it there. I’m sure you’ve already been doing that but it helps pass the time and you may find even better ways as technology evolves.

 

[TokenReefer]

Great strategy @Fishy888. This is mine as well. Learn the fundamentals with "common" corals first. I get the temptation of fancy corals and the urge to speed things up but better to crawl a little first imo when you're starting... The fall is shorter

 

[Kvandenplas]

Great strategy @Fishy888. This is mine as well. Learn the fundamentals with "common" corals first. I get the temptation of fancy corals and the urge to speed things up but better to crawl a little first imo when you're starting... The fall is shorter

The advice i needed to hear is all in this thread. Its not like I didnt know I was adding these early, lets be honest. I do my research so i was well aware they were more sensitive before I bought them, but again my lack of patience combined with that black friday sale was just irresistable to someone like me. I guess i lied to myself about how stable my system really is just to pull the trigger. so whether the hammer died in transit is heresay, as i'll likely be experiencing issues down the line with my other more difficult coral because of stability. At the end of the day this is my first reef tank - so the more mistakes I make, the more I learn and the better off i'll be in the future. At least theres a bright side to my mistake of moving too quickly.
Thank you to everyone that took the time to comment and help out, I appreciate you all!

 

[MelancholyBlenny]

Don't be too hard on yourself, if you want my honest opinion from that first video that hammer arrived on its way out and even in a well established system probably would have kicked the bucket the same. Your numbers look good in that first post so just keep that up and you'll be fine. Some corals just don't make it during shipping unfortunately.