Azoo Max Bio Ball review

[jayc]

The Azoo Max Bio Ball is a very similar product to the Benibachi Crimson Bee Ball.

Both products claim to do very similar things.

Benibachi Crimson Bee Balls sterilize the water by absorbing ammonia, nitrogen, and harmful substances.

It contains more then 30 kinds of minerals and enables complete moulting and ovulation of bee shrimps.

1 box contains 10 Balls.

Directions:

Use 10 balls for a 20 Gallons aquarium. Put the balls directly in the tank or as a filter media. It remains active for approximately 2 years.

While the Azoo Max Bio Ball claims are as follows:

FEATURES:

1.Contains selected beneficial bacteria and enzymes, effectively breaking down

ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the substrate and water.

2. Slowly breaks down for the build-up of stable and long- lasting bio bacteria colony

in the gravel bed.

Each ball contains 2×10⁷ bacteria. The bacteria process starts when put in the water.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE:

1.Each ball treats 50~100 liters of water. Use every two weeks.

2.Put directly onto the gravel bed for use.

3.After opening, properly seal the bag. Keep dry and store in cool place.

CAUTION:

Not for human consumption.

Keep away from the children and pets.

INGREDIENTS:

Bacillus subtilis

Aspergllus olize

Bitido bacteruru

Protease

α-amylase

There are a few differences between the two products however.

One claims to "absorb", while the other introduces beneficial bacteria to combat the toxic affects of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Physically, the Benibachi Bee Ball is greyish in colour and is hard like a marble or stone.

The Azoo has a clay like texture and a khaki colour, and while it is hard doesn't seem to be as hard as the Benibachi product. It is a bit more organic, I'd say.

Another difference is the complete lack of any information on the Benibachi product about it's ingredients. I understand it's a closely guarded trade secret, but at the same time, it could just be a round stone with enough porousness to allow nitrifying bacteria to colonise. I don't know - don't quote me as saying the product is fake. It certainly isn't. I've used the Benibachi ball and have seen shrimp moulting the very next day.

What has drawn me to try the Azoo Max Bio product is the fact that they list their ingredients, at least some of it. The main ingredient that drew my attention is Bacillus subtilis.

"Bacillus subtilis (natto strain) are recently gaining more and more popularity in aquaculture industry. This bacteria is not harmful to aquatic animals and has been recognized as safe to be eaten by living animals. They are actually occur naturally in the intestine tract of sea and fresh water animal.

In particular conditions, certain strain of bacillus subtilis can even have better and effective role than conventional phototropic bacteria for aquaculture, because of their high tolerance towards stress environment (pH, salinity, temperature..) , denitrifying and hydrolyzing organic residue power. These beneficial bacteria improve the health of fish or shrimp by suppressing the pathogen, by releasing natural antagonist antibiotic, which are not only selectively against the pathogenic microbes like. Besides, they have a very fast reproduction time, enabling them to easily become the dominant microbes in the pond, hence, improving water quality by modifying the microbial community composition of the water and sediment."

Check this excellent article out by a microbe fanatic.

http://littlemicrobes.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/bacillus-subtilis-aquaculture/

The use and application of the Azoo Max Bio ball is exactly the same as the Benibachi ball.

You get 10 balls in a pack, and you drop 1 into every 50-100 litres of water volume. While the Benibachi product requires 5-10 balls for a 60cm or 2foot tank. Both are placed on top of your substrate.

The Benibachi ball sinks like a "stone", where as the Azoo Max Bio ball releases some fine bubbles as it absorbs water on it's way down.

The shrimp seem to sit on the ball and pick at it almost as if they were eating it.

I also notice shrimp visibly more active and start moulting the next couple of days - just like the Benibachi ball. So it works similarly.

Azoo doesn't mention how long each ball will last. It reduces in size after a while, very slowly, and at this rate it would last quite a while. Mine have grown a fine layer of algae on it. Nothing prolific, just enough that I can see green on the ball. Clearly the algae like it, as does the shrimp that graze on the algae.

The last thing that attracted me to the Azoo Max Bio product was the price.

Benibachi Bee ball is priced at $35.00.

While the Azoo Max Bio is priced at $18.99.

(Prices and picture care of our excellent sponsored retailers Aquakitz)

There you have it. If you are in the market to try something new and would like to introduce the benefits of Bacillus subtilis probiotic flora into your aquarium environment along with all it's benefits, then give this a try. Other products might also have Bacillus subtilis in it's secret ingredients (or it might not), but at least with the Azoo product, I know for sure.

Additional reading material and references if you are interested in reading up on Bacillus subtilis:

- http://www.academia.edu/3013468/Effect_of_Bacillus_subtilis_on_growth_development_and_survival_of_larvae_Macrobrachium_rosenbergii_de_Man_

- http://my1001991113.fm.alibaba.com/product/134689541-0/Aquaculture_Animal_Probiotic_Effective_Microorganism_Bacillus_Subtilis_Natto_.html

- http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0045793

- There are tonnes of articles, just search "Bacillus subtilis".

- I wrote this review with Benibachi Crimson Bee ball in mind because I believe both products complement each other rather than compete with each other. As I mentioned above, Benibachi's product absorbs toxins. While Azoo's product introduces more beneficial probiotics to neutralise toxins.

[fishmosy]

I've used Bacillus spp. at work (marine systems). The theory behind how they work is that they occupy space (therefore less space for pathogenic bacteria) and utilise available nutrients (outcompete pathogenic bacteria), thereby lowering the amounts of pathogenic bacteria in a system, and therefore reducing the possibility that the pathogenic bacteria could cause problems for your livestock.

Great write up JayC. Interesting read.

[BlueBolts]

Nice write up jayc :encouragement:

[jayc]

Thanks guys. Means a lot coming from you all.

Fishmosy, interesting theory. Makes sense, and the benefit of Bacillus, is that, is can be ingested by the shrimp, and as you say take the place of pathogenic bacteria. Less bad bacteria and more good bacteria, means healthier shrimp.

One of the articles I linked also confirm Bacillus being found in the intestinal tracts of fish.

[Wraithie]

Very interesting! Thanks Jayc

[Dean]

good write up mate,

I also use Bacillus subtillis (Natto) grade- 3 x 10⁹ (3 billion cfu/g) in all my systems to help keep everything balanced and healthy.

I actually use a solution with a mix of BCAA, chitosan & Bacillus. :)

[jayc]

Ok Dean, now you're making me jealous. The secrets come out slowly. :)

Where can we buy that, and will you pre pack and ship? When is it going on your website?

It's not easy to find, and I thought I was doing well, when I found it in azoo balls.

[JPN07]

Great info jayc :encouragement: Gonna give the Azoo Max Bio Ball ago.

[Dean]

no secret mate :) should always search the forum before google when you want the best info about keeping shrimp ;)

 

not something i will sell as its super hard to get for myself as i get all my ingredients from a pharmaceutical company so i know its clean and pure...

Quote

Ok Dean, now you're making me jealous. The secrets come out slowly. :)Where can we buy that, and will you pre pack and ship? When is it going on your website?It's not easy to find, and I thought I was doing well, when I found it in azoo balls.

Edited March 1, 2016 by fishmosy
Fixing link

[jayc]

JPN07 - Great! Let us know how you find it too. There is certainly no stopping anyone using both Benibachi balls and Azoo Max Bio balls together for the maximum benefits.

Dean - I understand. It's probably safer for most to not fool with purer sources of Bacillus. But instead use something like Azoo Max Bio to introduce it.

[Squiggle]

Great write up dude, very informative :encouragement:

[fishmosy]

You can buy probiotics that are used in aquaculture that contain Bacillus spp. Look up INVE Sanolife MIC for an example. Whilst I have used it at work, I can't say whether it would be suitable for use in our shrimp tanks, but you never know.

[Fernando Lima]

Thanks for the great Review.

[Leo Tsui]

As per above sharing, azoo bio balls sound like more ADA 100 bacteria ball rather than benibachi bio ball, as benibachi never breakdown.

i have a question about benibachi ball, life of the product is around 2yrs. But do we wash them during these 2yrs, or just let them sit in the tank without touching them for 2yrs?

[jayc]

2 hours ago, Leo Tsui said:

But do we wash them during these 2yrs, or just let them sit in the tank without touching them for 2yrs?

Never wash them. Just let it sit in the tank.

[Leo Tsui]

T.,T I put them in my prefilter and washed them often. Good to know now, will put them back to tank without touching them from now on. Thanks for answering.

[Brentwillmers]

Thanks Jayc 

After reading you review I went ahead and purchased some azoo max bio balls. And it works. Affectively reducing my nitrate to almost 0 (which always sat at around 10ppm)  Amonnia 0 from 0.25ppm. My bee shrimp went absolutely mental after just a few hours. 

But Azoo now states, replace balls every 2 weeks. So works out about $2.50 every 2 weeks But really worth it. 

 

Thanks again for the review.