[Delphinus]

The folks who do a combination of vodka, sugar and vinegar are (IMO) probably getting the more balance out of it, but to me is it doesn't really come with a great set of instructions and vendor support that say Zeo does.

Taylor Aquatics NO3 Destroyer is sort of like that too, and comes with dosing instructions (which includes eventual weaning of your tank off it), which is something you may want to consider if you find you are battling high nutrients but don't want to commit to a full Zeo/UL system. (I use this stuff, works awesome).

I did try sugar dosing for a while and indeed it does pull NO3 down like crazy but it too can be overdosed creating a bacterial bloom (cloudy water).

The one thing I really liked about Zeo was how polished clear my water was when using it. Night and day difference before and after (on "day 2", not a word of a lie, I was wondering what was wrong with my lights because they were so much brighter all of a sudden. I thought they were about to explode or something they were so much brighter, it seemd. Then it occured to me why they seemed brighter, it wasn't the lights, it was the water).

But there are many tanks out there that don't do Zeo or sugar or vodka or whatever, Zeo alone doesn't make or break. Anyhow just some food for thought.