Welcome to the Board, and the Calgary Reffing Club. To answer your question about RO/DI. To be fair a few reefers here use them. The vast majority including the LFS with the best corals do NOT. Calgary has excellent water for reef purposes with lots of naturally occurring Calcium Carbonate. I would not use RO if you gave me a unit. Now you have heard from a Non RO person. You will probably soon hear a totally different opinion. The choice is always yours.
As far as LFS's go, if you want quality corals and are willing to pay through the nose, Wai's would be your choice. Some like Pisces, a lot of us are becoming fond of Gold's. There is always Big Al's, but do not take the mention of the shop as a recommendation.
