do you have to feed coil denitraters ?

i diy a coil denitrater, 3 foot tall 4 inch pvc and 80 feet of 1/4 inch plastic tubing (the same that is used for ro/di filters), with bio-balls. drip rate is about 2 per second at most. it has been running about 3 months now and i haven't really noticed any difference. i read a article about feeding the anaorobic bacteria a carbon based food like dosing with vodka. i have never dosed any vodka in my tank, just the thought of it makes me nervous. since i have never per say fed my coil denitrater, do you think that it never cycled? if i was to feed it vodka would i pour it in the sump or try to inject it straight into the denitrater?
the last time i tested for nitrates, the color was blood red off the charts. do you think it would be worth trying the vodka thing or just continue on and wait it out? has anybody used one of those sulfur reactors? from what i read about them the sulfur balls is what feeds the anaorobic bacteria that way you dont have to and the sulfur last a really long time.
one more question while i'm here, whats the difference between checking orp values and ph levels and is there advantage over one or the other. if they tell you basically the same(acidic or alkalinity) why would you test for both ph and orp?

 

If you dosed vodka, you wouldnt need the coil denitrator(CD). I wouldnt mess with vodka unless you knew what to do and what to look for. I've heard many ppl say that those CD dont work at all. In fact, one of my friends No3 got worse after the CD cycled. I guess its a mixed feelings. You need to figure out whats causing the No3 in the first place. Luna

 

With 2 drips per second that is around 140 per minute. I run mine between 70 and 100. Might not be giving the coil enough time to do it's job.