Not critisizing it all there Sissy, That is a product that has been used for many years in fish keeping. It has it's downfalls but used as you do it works very well. Biggest issue I know of using batting is some people allow it to get to clogged before cleaning and it clogs completely up. I started using Real Matala last year and I've been totally happy with it, Easy to clean with med, high water pressure, Keeps it's shape for more options to use, and it traps even better the more that gets caught in it, but it also has it's down falls as it's hard to get larger debris out of it once it gets caught up in the middle. I like how you use the batting under the water fall in a basket, I started using a piece of matala the same way and it reduced the amount of Debris that made it to the bottom of the plant pond by at least 50%. When I move the rocks around later in the season I'm planning on putting a planter container that has all the slots in it for drainage behind the rocks so I can put batting at the bottom of the matala to see if it will even clean it better.