You might take a look at the macrolite media. It supposedly never requires replacement.
Yes that's an option. I've also noticed that at least some of the commercial media is a mixture of plain sand and an oxidation compound or sand and a sand coated oxidation compound. Apparently one does not need a 100 percent oxidation compound for at least moderate levels of iron. That can be a good thing as the pure compounds are typically quite heavy and require higher backwash flow. Not cheap either!
If one can at least get oxidation started with plain aeration according to my reading, you can get by with less compound.
