I can't remember who asked me about buying cheap filter media for pumps. I came accross this place that sells it by the roll. http://krewkut.zoovy.com/category/pondfiltermediasale/ It's a lot cheaper than buying the replacement pads and it's supposed to work great.
Filter Media
vic
Jul 21, 2003
It was me and THANKS for the tip!...I'll check it out!
Those that live in the southwest may use a evaporative cooler or "swamp" cooler for air conditioning the home. Many of these use plastic based filter media, a fiberous light random weave, usually light blue in color. After a year or two they start to clog with dirt and minerals from the water. Washing them with hot water and beating them like a rug can make them reusable for ponds and the price is right. At the end of the cooling systems, many stores sell them at half off also.
I strongly advise against using swamp cooler pads. Some pads can give off bad gases. I would double check before putting in pond with fish and plants.
the swamp cooler pads have also been known to have bacteria inhibiters that can almost instantly kill your fish. Not something I would want to deal with to save a few bucks!
When my pond water turned green this year, I wrapped my intake with quilt batting. As the water flowed through, the tight weave of the fibers filtered out all the suspended algea, and within 2 days, my water was crystal clear again. The batting did not hurt my fish, frogs, tadpoles or plants! If you are in a pinch, quilt batting works wonders!
Dave