Well, I broke down in an effort to make my tank less "labor intensive" and purchased some vertex biopellets. I'm hoping that these will take the place of dosing vodka everyday. From what I've read, they are a food source for bacteria (much like the carbon in vodka is) and also provides surface area for colonization. The constant motion releases mulm, much like zeo rocks, that feed corals and micro fauna. I will still dose microbacter 7 every 3 days as I do now. My only "down side" to this method is probably cost. Cheap vodka goes a long way, at least in my tank. Not so much in my liquor cabinet! The vertex pellets weren't exactly cheap. We'll see how long they last..?
Any advice/experience from other reefers is appreciated. I will try to update this post.