Jeff,
It's your tank, and it's your call, but I'd proceed very cautiously from here. You can temporarily clean out the red slime algae that you are seeing by blowing it lose with a turkey baster, and removing it from the tank. If it were my system, I'd hold off on the vodka dosing, and try and address the source. Cheap vodka is not good for anything or anyone, and it could do more harm than good.
A 6 month old system is pretty new. As previously stated, it can take more than a yr for your tank to truly mature. It is very possible that your system is going thru a mini cycle, esp if you are in and out of the tank often.
What is your water source? How old are your bulbs? Also keep in mind, that some algae will always exist in most systems. There are several reefers posting here, with very mature systems, and excellent tank maintenance routines, who still have some algae from time to time. In nature, there is, and will always be, a balance.
If it were me, I'd try to identify and address the root cause, remove what I could, and be very, very patient. If you are doing your part (not overfeeding, skimming, keeping up on water changes, using an appropriate, quality bulb and replacing then on schedule, have a good maintenance plan, etc), the tank will mature, and it will find its balance.
When that happens, you get to sit back, enjoy it, drink the vodka (or another beverage of your choice), and try not to screw it up!
My .02