LUBAO - biofilm growing bag for Aquarium Shrimp (Kallax ball review)

[@ShrimpMania]

Link to Shrimp Sanctuary video who I bought Lubao from - kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2qziqWFnJ6rrJI I believe Lubao is a perfect holiday food and for large tanks of volume 100L and over as a supplement food for 3 weeks, for smaller tanks it would be better to split the contents into 2 smaller bags. Please use it with extra care because many breeders believe that If you leave it in the tank for too long it can introduce bad bacteria due to rot and it can kill your shrimps! What do you think about this bag?

[@yukimura1sanada]

I also use HWA food really good feeding response and i like that it's not hard and release smaller particles so shrimp and juveniles fight less for it

[@ShrimpMania]

@@yukimura1sanada Yes I like it too that it breaks in the tank and can be eaten quite fast.

[@georgekohn9372]

Great video,i got my hands on some luboa to gone juse IT to start up a new tank. The Hwa's food most of my shrimps love IT,the smell of the tank after feding is bit strong do.🍀🦐🌿😎👍

[@ShrimpMania]

@@georgekohn9372 Thank you George, like your videos too!

[@sko1beer]

Cool video and nice to see mark pop up👍

[@MarksShrimpTanks]

A very well made and presented video, thank you for the shout out too, I will share on my Facebook and youtube page 👍

[@ShrimpMania]

Thank you Mark, happy to hear this from you! It’s an honour to have you in my video😊

[@sagisunshine9376]

25s in & already liked due to the sheer effort you put into this test. Thank you!

[@ShrimpLife]

always some new product coming out but sometimes the simplest and oldest method is the best and safest. :) as a long time shrimp keeper i see no need to buy this product, thanks for the great video

[@ShrimpMania]

Very true! Fewer things you add in the tank, less problems you going to have. I'm glad you like it, thank you Shrimp Life!

[@ShrimpLife]

@@ShrimpMania :)

[@RWAquariumPages]

Such a great video. I purchased 1 bag recently on whim, but it's been sitting here still in the delivery envelope, the concept makes sense but it might be due to marketing also as you mention. When you smelt the rotten bag, my instant reaction was my stomach turned thinking of the smell. Like all others have commented, sometimes it's kiss (keep it simple) technique usually works the best. But of course we all like to experiment once in a while and heh, I noticed we use the same ammonia test kit :) high 5

[@ShrimpMania]

Totally agree, I've ordered 10 bags and I recently played a lot with them. What I can say is they can be used in some specific situations such as traveling or for a reason you think you might run out of biofilm and worry that babies won't survive. I believe that in an established tank if you daily feed your shrimp this product is not necessary. It was also an experiment to find out for how long you can safely keep them in your tank. I still drop them in my cycling tank and then give it to my shrimp for a day or two to eat biofilm from it, then I move them back to the cycling tank. It's fun to watch, mainly because shrimps are all in one place and eating from a high reflective ball from which you can also do better shots. Kiss - like how you called it, thanks for the info haven't heard this!

[@lunasmile669]

Haha your face when you smell it :)) My wife was so mad when I threw Lubao into the trash can and she could not figure out why it smells so badly. Honestly, if you want to increase baby survival rate, just use leaves litter, snowflake food and little portion of Bacter AE weekly. These will not ruin your water parameters and shrimps will love you for that.

[@ShrimpMania]

Hi Dat, Thank you for sharing my opinion on Lubao bags and welcome to my channel. Lubao came from Taiwan as another unwanted product they can advertise and sell to naive shrimp hobbits claiming it's magically giving you unlimited food and hiding the huge downside that it'll eventually rot and pollute the water. The video you saw from DW is most likely sponsored by shrimp sanctuary - Lubao vendor as he gives their details where you can buy it in his video and description box.

[@Nojah710]

That’s what I’ve been doing but I also add a protein pellets into the shrimps diet. And I finally had my shrimps explode with babies in a 5 gallon tank!

[@limes_lime]

No man, Dead shrimp powder! It only a amateur that provide bacter powder, its 2025 soon mate, not 1990

[@yukimura1sanada]

Very interesting, thanks to spend time and showing results 👍

[@ShrimpMania]

Glad you enjoyed it my Thai friend😊

[@MarksShrimpTanks]

I think I know you !!!

[@yukimura1sanada]

@@MarksShrimpTanks 😂

[@is7090]

Yeayy, i definitely love this product review. I asked previously and you delivered. Thanks shrimp mastah

[@ShrimpMania]

Thanks, glad you liked it!

[@TheShrimpfather-aka-Martin]

Awesome video, thanks for sharing. I recently tried some similar bags from another overseas vendor, Im in the US, their instructions were similar. Thanks for opening one up, i'd wondered if his were weighted down. The ones I tried weren't and some would float some wouldn't. My shrimp ever only seemed interested in it between days 5 to 15, id continue to see biofilm but they just never seem interested and that could just be because of their recipe, Bene's might be different. Between that and the smell I just decided they weren't for me but definitely wanted to try and see for myself. I like the Hwa food as well, that's about the only thing my Red Galaxy Pinto will touch.

[@ShrimpMania]

Thanks! They becoming quite popular now and a lot of different vendors trying to make their own. A lot o f shrimp keeper making diy bags as well, you can find some recipes on KZbin. I think it's a bit risky to trust every single one. I believe in simplicity. Fewer things you adding in the tanks fewer things can go wrong😉

[@018catalina]

Thanks for taking the time and make this experiment, I have small tanks, but full of shrimps. I am waiting for my order of lubao and hwa food, really exiting, but I’ll be careful and follow Bene’s instructions, he told me it releases ammonia. Anyway, against all suggestions on water change, I do it twice a week and almost daily top off with ro and my breeding tanks are thriving. This should keep me on the save side.

[@ShrimpMania]

Thanks for stopping by. If you do your water changes twice a week you'll definitely be fine!

[@018catalina]

@@ShrimpMania I forgot to thank you for telling about the smell, I have a problem with that, but I won’t panic now 😊. I think I will remove it as soon as it starts smelling, I really don’t want to take any risk, I had an ammonia spike which killed almost my whole colony so, I’m kind of scared now.

[@adrianheng7095]

Thanks for the video. This is very insightful and I see all sorts of lubao being sold in shops here in Singapore. Makes me more cautious about usage in small tanks!

[@ShrimpMania]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@M.F.105]

tq for information im glad this video come out

[@ShrimpMania]

Thank you. Im glad it was helpful!

[@gbeeshrimp]

Excellent as always, really useful information. I use lubao but will definitely use it differently from now on. I have on in cycle so that's where it will go.

[@gedGOD]

Awesome test. Thanks for this!! ✌️👍

[@ShrimpMania]

Glad you liked it!

[@mr_hackquarium]

Great video with good method and nice experiment. Thx ! I'm sharing this video with Mr Hackquarium's community 🤓👌

[@mr_hackquarium]

Shared on the blog: hackquarium.lebiklab.com/test-lubao-bag-magie-ou-marketing/ and FB + twitter 🥳

[@ShrimpMania]

Thanks a lot 😀 appreciate it!

[@lokethao1934]

how do you compare a 30day old bag with a couple days old shrimp king food?

[@ShrimpMania]

Just made a point that if you your food left for 3 days in you tank it will not pollute your water as bad as lubao. Im sure even if you left it until its fully decomposed for a week or two it will be less ammonia than lunao produced for the same period. I still running this experiment - they still in the jar and im going to check result in a week or so

[@koenwijnen9186]

You clearly dont have shrimps if u ask this

[@RedGalaxyFishbone]

I thank you alot! I was kinda sold on this product as well.. but seeing this.. Ill stick to my leaves, snowflakes, and HWA and shrimp complete haha!

[@ShrimpMania]

Good thinking!

[@harveygronwald1699]

i love your filming! can you share your video/camera setup with link? i would love to buy your setup

[@ShrimpMania]

This one also my old Canon 90d, but I would recomend to invest in Sony a7siii or any sony A7 series. Its full frame camera meanin you have mor field of view with the same lens. Canon doesn't have stabiliser so it very shaky. If on the budget I would recommend Lumix S5, great full frame camera and comes with awesome 20-60mm kit lens. I like the colors but autofocus a bit dodgy

[@SteveHinrichs]

I have never heard of these. I am relatively new to the hobby is probably why. I do travel a lot, about 4 to 7 days per month, and usually all n a row. It sounds by your summary. If using, a person needs to place in a tank 1 week prior to traveling. If I put the bag in the tank on the day I leave. It sounds like the bag will not effective right away. What do you suggest to do if needing to travel for more than 3 or 4 days? I do not trust my family, or anyone, to feed my shrimp properly. Thanks, and a great informative video. Thanks for putting this together.

[@ShrimpMania]

Thanks Stave, I don't think it yet arrived to US it's quite new, maybe in the near feature. Almond leaves are great slow food, if you put one leaf biweekly you should have a lot of extra food available in your tanks. Again they need to decompose for a few weeks in the tank before shrimp start graze on them that's why you need to regularly adding them.

[@TheShrimpfather-aka-Martin]

@@ShrimpMania Ive seen 2 vendors in the US recently add Bene's Lubao to their website, only one I know has them in stock. They've both added Hwa's food as well, which I like lol

[@m.y.i.shrimp3574]

First super cool and informative 👌. Second bene tay tells you can keep it for 1 up to 2 months in your tank. Even if you forget the time you put it in. It should start to float. When it floats you can squeeze it one more time to get it to sink. The second time it floats, that's the time you should remove it from your tank. This is making me worry about my shrimp. Did you also do a ammonia test with your aquarium water immediately and what kind of impact reading it gave.

[@ShrimpMania]

I never saw them floating and first time i kept them in the tank for almost 2 months when i didn’t know about them as much as now. They might never float who knows. I don’t quite understand what you meant about test. Did you mean test ammonia in the tank? It will be converting to NO3 straight away in well established tank if that what you mean

[@m.y.i.shrimp3574]

@@ShrimpMania yes that's what a meant about testing the aquarium water it self. I saw his video giving the explanation about how long you can keep the lubao. He made 2 or 3 videos about it. I thought he explained it in his second video after getting a lot of questions from buyers of the lubao. I am waiting untill mine will float or at least 2 months pass. In the meantime I will keep my eyes 👀 on the water parameters. I was already trying to start making my own version. Like you said it's not cheap if you have multiple tanks. Thank you so much for chairing the information. This is 👀 opening

[@MarksShrimpTanks]

The best part 08:04

[@ShrimpMania]

It was really bad smell 😂😂😂

[@chuxtuff]

I don't blame you for caution when adding something like that bio bag to your shrimp tank. I'd rather try and use your white sweet potato method to make bio film!! It's more "proven" and is considerably safer for the shrimps too, it seems to me...

[@FinalFlameXD]

I just received some lubao from Bene. And it's only been in a few of my tanks for a few hours now. Thanks for sharing this, because I never knew any of the cons of this. I almost don't want to use this now :/ that's scary high ammonia levels

[@ShrimpMania]

Don't worry if you have a big tanks you should be ok. I would recommend to do slightly bigger water changes if you have a small tanks in a couple of weeks to withdrawer excess nitrates.

[@FinalFlameXD]

@@ShrimpMania I have them in two 30 gallons, a 10g and 5g. I should probably not even use it in the 5g you think?

[@ShrimpMania]

@@FinalFlameXD Deffinetly safe for 30 gallons. Ok for 10 with slightly bigger water change in 3 weeks from the day you place lubao in it. For 5 gallon I would only put a half of the bag, I know it's hard to split it once it in the tank. I would keep an eye on nitrates and remove the bag once NO3 start to grow. Should be ok for first few weeks

[@markushoehle1207]

Is the ammonia self dangerous for shrimps?

[@ShrimpMania]

Yes caridina shrimp is very sensitive creatures

[@pokosal7015]

Have u ever experienced with sl-aqua vitality bag ? It does smell bad after in the tank about 10 days on ward …

[@ShrimpMania]

I always wanted to try it but never had a chance to get my hands on it. It looks like large tea bag. It should have same principle as lubao but it looks much smaller so should not pollute the water too bad, but im not sure about it.

[@pokosal7015]

@@ShrimpMania I see in website it’s say replace after 7-10days. I used it before it smell like rotting food also after release biofilm.

[@ShrimpMania]

@@pokosal7015 good they mentioned it on website! When small vendors sell lubao they don’t tell you when remove it and some people leave it in the tank for months thats why I’ve made this video to make it clear

[@PoseidonsPets]

Great video, well done

[@Aquafinity]

Nice review! 😉

[@ShrimpMania]

Thanks 😊

[@jamesmac9664]

Thanks for honest review Shrimp Mania, I hope this trend product fades away. I found similar experience with lubao, after one month all my shrimps start dying and the smell is rancid. Tested ammonia and found extremely high levels, beware everyone.

[@ShrimpMania]

Thanks James, I agree. I was trying to make it as positive as possible and at the end i decided to cut some very negative parts where I mentioned that it also can introduce bad bacteria in you tank if left for too long but now seeing this responds i wish i didnt do it

[@robinsonsitompul9362]

Hi, what happened with your video discussing something about lubao, the one that you put sweet potato in your tank in early setup?

[@ShrimpMania]

I discussed it in my last video - shrimp room tour, nothing happened with the video it's still published

[@robinsonsitompul9362]

@@ShrimpMania ooh sorry, I didn't notice... Your video is very helping, my friend ask me about lubao, and I just show your video to them.. thx so much, greeting from Indonesia, keep safe

[@ShrimpMania]

@@robinsonsitompul9362 No problem my friend, happy to hear you like my videos!

[@g.rodriguez7445]

I'm looking at mostly reds/oranges, possibly a couple blue babies and maybe yellow babies...from Red Cherries? Is this possible?

[@g.rodriguez7445]

Babies are about 2 weeks old. The blues are confirmed blues.

[@LeahhJett]

I’m curious if you tested the tank water as well?

[@ShrimpMania]

In an established tank beneficial bacteria will convert ammonia to nitrates. That's why this bag grows bacteria on it because ammonia is food for bacteria. Yes I tested a tank with lubao in it and In small tanks you will notice nitrate spike after around one month.

[@bhillson]

I would be interested to find out the ingredients others think are in there? I can’t seem to find people talking about the ingredients

[@ShrimpMania]

I had same result with white sweet potato

[@lloyd011721]

it seems like after week 2 you could just dump the contents into a food dish and get more out of it that way

[@ArcanineICU]

Привет, товарищ! Отличное видео, наконец-то кто-то осмелился сказать правду 🙂 ладно, до скорого!

[@ShrimpMania]

Thank you Kim, didn’t know you can write in Russian 😀 or maybe some one helped you?

[@ArcanineICU]

@@ShrimpMania Hahahaha

[@ReadyAquarium]

Some of it is made with low-cost ingredients. To make more money, they're going to cut what's inside. After all, any starter boost emits ammonia, which aids in the balance as the bacteria take over and grow. I'm not a fan of lubao; I prefer powder products because you can control the dosing. Thank you also for clarifying that they are not intended for nano tanks.

[@ShrimpMania]

Well said about powder products and I absolutely agree with you it much easier to control and you can dose different amounts for different tank size. Appreciate your comment

[@creamontop6969]

definately smaller bags to use Lubao.for smaller tanks or nano tanks. I would still prefer my usual biofilm product I use. (for smaller or bigger tanks). I prefer to drink a cup of Darjeelng tea :-)

[@ShrimpMania]

John, you’ve got very unique sense of humour 😹

[@creamontop6969]

@@ShrimpMania indeed I am "against" Alcohol. In Thai they are used to know, you will get TING TONG from Beeah !!so better to immerse some Darjeeling.

[@ДмитрийХодаковский-е3б]

If not for you, I would have done the same test exactly as yours - for ammonium. Apparently there is no way to grow bacteria and not go to the process of decay. If you have any ideas how to make it better I will be glad. Thanks.

[@ВалерийКороев-ь5ъ]

Что за мешочек в креветочнике?

[@Tatersalade]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing :-)

[@ShrimpMania]

You are welcome potato salad 😊

[@Tatersalade]

@@ShrimpMania LOL

[@creamontop6969]

it "seems" to be Barley + brewers yeast. Or any other mixture ? who can tell.....

[@ShrimpMania]

Yes sounds about right

[@bhillson]

Thank you, funny thing I have just purchased two of these bags, I will be mega carefull

[@williamwanzaiyi]

so um, i live in China and the only resource i can find about lubao is used to cycle tanks. instructions are to remove shrimp before cycling old tanks. i have yet to find anything on leaving the bag in tank for long periods of time.

[@ShrimpMania]

Yes i wouldn’t leave it in the tank with the shrimps

[@andrewchen139]

Hi, just want to share that its common knowledge in asia to remove the lubao after 2 weeks

[@ShrimpMania]

I agree with you, two weeks is good timing before it starts to rot. Ideal for holiday as well

[@jiim55719]

I got an ad for Zyn on this lol

[@ShrimpMania]

wow really haha

[@Chroniclesofamessyperson]

Thank you for such a comprehensive video. i am a beginner so i think i am gonna stay away from this

[@ShrimpMania]

Glad it was helpful!

[@oniesma]

I've use it once. I will never use it for my shrimp tank anymore. It smell so bad and of course it is a bad sign..

[@ShrimpMania]

I totally agree with you

[@АндрейБаглайАквариумистика]

Здравствуйте. А Вы есть в ВК?

[@ShrimpMania]

Привет, нет только fb

[@АндрейБаглайАквариумистика]

​@@ShrimpMania Какая страница?

[@ShrimpMania]

@@АндрейБаглайАквариумистика ссылка в описании

[@АндрейБаглайАквариумистика]

@@ShrimpMania Понял. 🤣

[@joebudden322]

​@@ShrimpMania вы знаете русский?

[@limes_lime]

I dont like them lubaou

[@ShrimpMania]

@@limes_lime yeah me too

[@limes_lime]

Listen Mr UK pro breeder! 😁 I tryied lubao for cycle with soil v1 and for a cycled tank with prl k14 for food (a lubao for food purpose!) My prl dident like it, It floats over and over again, the water column gets milky.. I love U and Your work with Lee and Wong and yeah everything with U! I'm a pro breeder of various HighEnd Neos including OE and some Caridina

[@limes_lime]

​@@ShrimpManiaFor further notice I work the same as U, green walls RO 100000%.. But now for Caridina only topoffs and only 20-25% WC 4 times a year //Chears! Happy Christmas brother

[@CryMoreShrimps]

Lubao is a product that should be kept in a tank for 3-4 weeks. It is not for smelling but to provide your tank with beneficial bacterias and extra biofilm. You only measured amonnia in ro water but you will never measure +bacterias in a rotten food wchich are very dangerous for our shrimps. That is why your tests were irrelevant. You should always add lubao to a well stabilized, well planted tank where amonia is immediately turned by bacterias into no3 and most is eaten by plants. I dont recommend 30% water changes as this can be very dangerous for your shrimps and wchich in my opinion is much more bad for shrimps than no3 at a level of 8mg. You should always use it wisely and "when you use a bathroom do you also smell your hands??. Take care and it is always until next time.

[@ShrimpMania]

Cześć. Appreciate your comment CryMore. Yes I absolutely agree with you, what you just said I was trying to explain in my video. Want to inform people that they can use it for 3-4 weeks maximum. Released ammonia obviously will convert to NO3 in the tank, I didn't say that in the video because I thought people know that, but some still don't get it. So Rico Nico doing it wrong when changing 30% haha

[@maleficent3333]

lubao is made out of plants used to make beer, mostly, fermentation occurs, and bacteria biofilm is created, you can make lubao yourself, it's same as making ogórki kiszone, slavic, and asian people used it to make dishes and preserve food, + add taste to food since ages, It's important to make fermentation properly, if you screw it out it will rot. you can ferment it like you would do pickles, fresh water, replace daily, once biofilm appears you put lubao in tank. It should have fermented acid smell, it's easy to screw it up, but once done right, proper bacteria consume carbon with in plants, and produce co2, they also consume no3, reducing it. Put lubao in fresh ro water each day, replace, do it for 4 days, or add salt to your water, not too much, garlic, to prevent wrong bacteria rot, you're welcome. sorry if my response is chaotic, ask question I will clarify, also some climates make it impossible to use lubao.

[@ShrimpMania]

Great info, thank you!

[@maleficent3333]

@@ShrimpMania you're wellcome, I hope my information helps, In my tanks i don't need to play in 3 -4 day water replacing and fermenting lubao outside tank, since i have 250L ones, so there's a lot of fresh water at any point, make it easier to ferment properly, side effect is, water goes milky for 2 days, but after that, no3 drops from 20 to 2.( I make 500g giant lubao, and fresh zucinni)

[@ShrimpMania]

@@maleficent3333 I mostly using them to help with the cycle. For how long you normally put them in your tanks?

[@maleficent3333]

@@ShrimpMania i remove containers once snails eat everything inside them, this usually lasts months. from 4-6months