What to use as filter media?

Currently, and always, I have ran off the carbon cartridges that come made for each filter I own. At my LFS I can't seem to find any filter media that isn't activated carbon.
My question is, is what could I look for specifically, and/or order offline to start replacing my carbon media.

 

you can ditch the carbon and just stuff it with sponges and bio media. as long as the water hits it, it perfectly fine

 

I bought some large two sides sponges that are like 10"x20" and I just cut to fit my different filters. I cut a little tall in case they squish a bit. They are thicker on one side and finer on the other. You can just rinse them or squeeze a little to remove collected gunk when necessary and put back in filter. I also use Seachem Matrix to catch and grow BB.

 

I buy the cut-to-fit media on amazon. Its made under Deep Blue ( Marineland and others also have their own )
They are a 18X10 pad that's pretty thick and durable for about $6.00. Deep Blue has all kinds of different ones such as Carbon, Plain, Nitrate remover, Ammonia remover as well as Phosphate reducers.

Each pad that I use in my cartridge lasts about 4-6 months.

 

I use polyfill from a craft store or Walmart. It works really well for me.

 

Thank! I'll definitely be looking into all of those and saving my carbon cartridge in case I need to remove any medication.