How much water did you use?
I'm glad you were able to make a smooth transition

Trust me man, I have 2 years clean off the needle, I've gone from shooting everything at insane doses, to being able to get my rocks offs and get effective analegesia from rectal morphine/hydromorphone or intranasal oxymorphone & hydromorphone.
All I did was switch to rectal administration from IV and it once you get IV out of your life, everything else is so much easier to reach. I've lowered my tolerance so much, and I no longer feel hopeless yet simultaneously apethetic. When I stopped shooting up, my life changed. I hope you can stick to it! Let me just tell you that if it worked for me, it can work for you. It's such a safer ROA than IV, if you follow my guide I've done my very best to minimize any sort of harm.
If it's gelling, then maybe you should make sure you're using enough water, maybe half a mL extra. If it's still too viscous, you should use it after 10 hours, or after 8 if 10 fails. I've never had it gel like that though, I used Mallinkcrodt Morphine Sulphate ER 60s and 100s
When I used to be a daily morphine IV user, I would get 3-4 hours out of each shot, maybe 2.5 towards the end.
When I switched to recal, it was like whoa, you don't get the same rush but the added duration totally made up for it.