Yes, to both points! I had ORA green and purple Montipora digitata that I used to as trial specimens as well as ORA green pocillapora and ORA green stylophora. I did have some encrusting montipora (Jedi mindtrick and Superman) that faded steadily. I also had a peach digitata that faded and died but that might have been a lighting issue. I still had to figure out lighting, flow, and chemistry. I lost a lot of acros (and clams). But if you have a few frags that are surviving and not fading I really think just a little more time. I thought for sure I wouldn’t have to wait a year and kept tweaking and moving frags and buying exact same replacements and kept losing them! I checked every night for PE and didn’t see any in the acros for the first year. Like you I’d see PE for the first days or weeks then nothing. Like you all my parameters checked out. But now after 1&1/2 years my PE is great, some even with lights on. And I haven’t lost any frags in 6 months. I am to the point where I feel like I can’t kill anything! But it was a long slog!
