Have you possibly considered the fact that it is your source of livestock that is the actual issue here? Is everything you've purchased from the same LFS? Can you describe the corpses? Are their spots on them, are they bloated, what is the time frame from addition to death, etc?
You can successfully run a SW tank without RO/DI water. I used to live in Edmonton, and I ran tanks for quite some time with tapwater. I used a good conditioner, Prime, and let it sit (in a rubbermaid with a circulation pump) for at least 2 days before using it. Eventually down the line though you may want to invest in an RO/DI system, however you do not have to.
Do you have a camera? Can you post a few pictures of your set up?
To answer your other questions
1) Ammonia, just keep doing regular water changes, 10-15% as you were doing until it comes down. The ammonia may be the result of decay as you mentioned.
2) You're pH is actually low, assuming you're talking about the reading of 7.0. I'm wondering about your salt, so I'm waiting to hear about about that.
3) Acclimating fish - there are lots of schools of thought on it. Pick whichever you feel works best for you.
4) Find out what type of salt you are using
5) Bump your specific gravity up, SLOWLY, to 1.024-1.025
6) Test kits - see if you can meet up with someone here, or take your water sample to another LFS and just see what they say. As well make sure you are tracking your parameters in a notebook or a spreadsheet. This will let you easily identify known issues, or pinpoint any problems.
So if I was you, I would be changing out 10%-15% of my water each week to lower the ammonia levels, like you are doing. I would also be watching my tank for any dead fish that need to be removed asap. While I did water changes I would be slowly uping my S.G. levels. Also don't add any fish, etc. until you've got this sorted out.
Right now your biggest issues seem to be Ammonia levels, pH, and fish, in that order. Try attacking them systematically and see what happens.
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