Hydroton Expanded clay pellet uses?

[Cattleya17]

Hello how is everyone? Good I hope. Well I found huge bags of hydroton and its in the hydroponics section of my local greenhouse and nursery huge bags for 10 dollars! And I was wondering can you use it not in S/H but as regular potting media? I grow all my plants in lava rock. I’ve found that the black lava rock gets to hot in the summer and the roots do not burrow into it, but on the flip side the red lava rock the roots fly like crazy and burrow deep. So these pellets are red like the lava rock I use. So can I use them instead or are they only a hydroponic thing?
The lava rock is 3.99 to 4.99 a bag and the bags are tiny! I could repot my entire collection (which is in need of new pots and stuff) with little little cost! So can you help?