Equipment innovator Maxspect continues on its aquarium journey with the launch of a new little lifestyle aquarium called the Dice Pico 2 AIO. First impressions are that it is compact and cuboid in shape, but all other similarities with the recently launched Dice All-In-One (Marine,) Nano stop there as this even smaller All-In-One nano tank comes complete with lid, light, heating, filtration, app control, and monitoring which all combine to form Maxspect’s first Smart Aquarium.
The tank itself is tiny at just 12”x9”x9” (311x233x248mm), which, even if all of that was water, would place its 17.97-liter/4.75 gallons gross volume firmly in the Pico aquarium category. But despite being tiny in volume the Dice Pico 2 comes with full-sized filtration in the form of a sponge, filter floss, activated carbon, and bio media which combine to form the all-important holy trinity of mechanical, biological, and chemical filtration, and in quantity that exceeds the basic requirements of a tank three times the volume of this one.
The media all line up inside a rear chamber that can be viewed through a window in the back of the tank and accessed from the top when the lid is lifted. Heating is provided by a comprehensive nano heater and twin temperature probe combination, and circulation, heating, and lighting can all be accessed and controlled via the Maxspect Syna-G Cloud App, available both on Google Play and the App Store.
The tiny built-in light looks feature-rich, populated with controllable Red, Green, and Blue (RGB,) channels which can be controlled to tweak the color in the tank to suit particular fish and plants, as well as providing sunrise and sunset functions, a night light, nature mode as well as a programmable timer. The heater, light, and 12v DC pump combine to draw a maximum of 36 watts at the wall and it comes in either Pearl White coloration or Jazz Black.
The Dice Pico 2 AIO aquarium represents quite a side-step for Maxspect, as we know them much more for their patented Gyre Flow pumps and protein skimmers. This tiny tank has so much going for it, with just one slight problem for us reefers – it’s Freshwater Only. But there are literally dozens of tiny, pico-sized freshwater tropical fish, shrimp, and plants to populate it with, so you could still make it look pretty, sit back, and enjoy both the energy savings and the system control from the palm of your hand.
A true desktop tank, no cabinet is necessary. Our initial thoughts overall? We want one! Now PLEASE make us a Saltwater Version!
