Today in this video I'm going to talk about exotic and novelty biofilm builder which came from
Asia - Lubao bag. This video took me five weeks to make and you are going to see full lifespan of
this product. I'm going to take this back out from the tank at different stages in order to
test the water parameters at every point of its life at the end of the video we will discuss pros
and cons of the Lubao bag. Stick around. About seven months ago I came across a video on YouTube
Then I discovered that this youtuber is actually selling these bags all
over the world, so I bought several bags from his reseller who were based in the uk and was
very excited to improve my shrimp's well-being . Shortly after my purchase I realized that these
bags don't come with instruction and I couldn't get a clear answer on some of my questions.
What's inside of this bag? How long does it last in the tank and when should I remove it.
Can I use it in any tank size without any problems even in the small tanks?
And finally is it completely safe for my shrimps and do I really need it? I will try
to give you an answer on these questions in this video. Let's jump to the first question what's
inside of this bag? A complete recipe of this content was kept in secret for obvious reasons
but as the product recently became very popular some of the hobbyists managed to figure it out,
made their own bags and share their recipe online. It most likely contains some proteins bacterial
powder and yeasts for fermentation process also a ceramic ring to make it sink. I'm going to use one
of these bags in my 90 liter tank. Roughly every 10 days I'm going to take it out from the tank
put it in a half a liter jar and let it sit for 24 hours and then I'm going to measure
ammonia. I soaked this back in RO water for four days prior placing it in the tank as per
instruction in the video. Day 1. Just place it in the tank as it's been in the jar for 4 days
for this period is a lot of biofilm growing on it and shrimps are very excited about it.
on the second day my shrimps lost the interest but after about one week my shrimp start to like it.
Day 12. It's time to take it out for the first test
I left it in half a little jar for 24 hours and after that I tested for ammonia
test tube becomes slightly green which is almost nothing for the large tank.
And again shrimps got very excited once I returned the bag into the tank.
Day 22. Straight after I took it out from the tank I noticed a very bad rotten smell
which is not a great sign. Let's do the ammonia test again.
As you can see the test tube become very green and we have some noticeable increase of ammonia
indicating that this bag is starting to rot in your tank.
Okay this last day for Lubao bag in the tank. I'm just about to remove it to make another
experiment and show you the results. You can see i made little rearrangements in this tank.
Here you go we just took it out from the tank. Oh my god it smelled insane really. It's just um
it just smelled like a rotten food or something yeah so I wouldn't be able to continue this
experiment anymore because I'm just take care of my shrimps a lot and I don't want to harm them.
I think it's safer to remove it at this stage yeah so let's put it in
a jar again for 24 hours and and see what's what's gonna happen here. See the test tomorrow
okay guys do a small experiment as well. I'm just gonna put one stick of this complete shrimp
food into the same amount of water and we tomorrow we're going to compare where is going to be more
ammonia in leftover food for one day in your tank or just one day for Lubao bag so stay tuned we're
gonna check it out tomorrow. I don't think it's a full stick so let's put a little bit more.
it's definitely going to be like a full stick. Okay guys this is our final test
let's mix it a little bit. So as you can see it's a whole stick of Shrimp King here
in this jar and here we have Lubao here in this jar so let's mix it a little bit.
It's been sitting in the jar for 24 hours and now we're gonna test it.
Okay guys let's do another quick test. One stick of Shrimp King versus the Lubao bag
1 month old in a water for three and a half days, about 80 hours. Let's check the ammonia
in all my tanks and after few weeks I noticed that my nitrate level has slightly increased,
especially in my smaller tanks. Look at this tank it's only 25 liter and if you put Lubao
bag in it in one month time nitrate level can be as high as 20 even if you do regular water
change. Let's see what the biggest shrimp breeder in Europe Nico Ricco thinks about nitrate.....At
25 for for fish it's very it's good. Okay for shrimp if you have 25 milligrams per liter
of nitrate all of your baby will will die! all of your baby will will die!
don't get me wrong I don't want to say it's a bad product. No I'm sure it's a great product
if you're using it wisely. I wish of course that Shrimp Sanctuary gives a bit more information
about his bags and let us know that at some point in a few weeks they start to rot and they're not safe anymore
good stuff about the products and they never tell you the downside. Guys the whole idea of
this video is to let you know that there is no magic and if you got your extra biofilm you're
most likely to get some extra nitrates in your tank. This bag is definitely has a limit and it
starts rot quite quickly you're only safe for 2-3 weeks. Make sure you check it for stinky
smell. Once it starts to smell that's mean it's polluting your water and it's time to remove it.
Degusting smell really!
and i'm 100% agree with him. So if you go on holiday and no one can feed your shrimp then
these bags become very handy. Okay before i make my conclusion and talk about pros and
cons let's hear from Mark shrimp tanks what's his opinion on Lubao Bags. For some of you who
don't know mark he is a very experienced shrimp keeper and breeder with many years of experience
and I'm going to leave a link to his channel in my description box. What's your opinion on the
lupo la boa bag? have you ever tried it before? um i've i have actually made them before myself.
I made them was a long time ago like three four years ago. Guys they're basically a bag full of uh
something like barley grass in it mixed with bacteria maybe some minerals as well put in it put
into a little bag and then you put in your tank. I have had them i've made they've done diy stuff
on it i have my page about it on my website as well. I don't think I ever made a video
right and i thought it could be a little bit dangerous if someone makes something and then
um you know what happens if they get like the really bad bacteria in their tank and
it multiplies like crazy and kills all the shrimp. I don't know enough about it to
tell people to make stuff like this yeah. The thing I noticed with the shrimp mania was um
the ones that i took out of the tank were really they stunk really really badly
like the smell was horrific. If you ever watch uh vin's setup videos he actually does say that
the the bags only go in the tank on start up not after. Thank you mark for your feedback
now let's talk about pros and cons of lubao bag. pros providing extra food and biofilm.
it doesn't pollute water much in the first three weeks.
excellent holiday food if you are not able to feed your shrimps. can be used when you cycle new tank.
cons. not very potent for the first week. start polluting water after 2-3 weeks. it can be pricey
if you have many tanks five euro per tank for three weeks. can be overkill for small tanks.
guys personally if I think that my shrimp tank needs more biofilm
I better to use good old Bacter AE unless I'm not around
and why i think it's better is because it's easy to control. For example if you have a small tank
with a few shrimps then you add just a little bit and if you have a larger tank with many shrimps
then you dose big amounts. With Lubao bag you don't have this opportunity. So if you have a
small tank you better to split it into two smaller bags otherwise you simply over feed your tank.
I hope you enjoyed this video please give it a like if you liked it
or dislike if you think is complete ballex and please leave a comment and let me know
what you think about Lubao bags. Happy stream keeping and see you in the next one!