The Dymax iQ3 is a beautiful aquarium, coming complete with lighting and integrated filtration. At 22 x 17 x 22cm/8.5 x 6.7 x 8.5” it is truly minute, but, being made from 0.6cm/.25” acrylic with curved edges, is stronger and safer than a glass alternative.

While small, this aquarium comes packed with features you would normally see on systems much larger and more expensive.  Filtration is hidden behind an built-in false wall in black acrylic. Water from the tank goes via a surface overflow onto the biological sponge in the baffled chamber behind. The filter uses a diffusion plate to provide an even flow of water through the filter media. 

iltered water then leaves this section via a gap in the base of this baffled section into the adjacent chamber. From here the compact return pump, with adjustable flow from 200-300 lph, takes filtered water to the display via a small duckbill-shaped nozzle to create gentle flow. This is reasonably powerful for such a small pump, but consumes only 5w of power.

The iQ3 comes complete with the Robot LED system, which is quite a slick little unit that’s easy to attach to the aquarium and is fully dimmable. The light is bendable into any position and contains 28 LEDs, but demanding a total power consumption of just 1.6w.

To the human eye the light is bright and provides uniform illumination for the aquarium.