# New Chihiros Online Store



## Wookii (16 Mar 2022)

Visited the Chihiros website today to check out their new Nova 1 light. Their website has always been an awkward and messily designed, old-fashioned HTML website, but found today that they have completely re-vamped it and brought it up to date.

It appears to include a store front to allow direct purchases (including spares and accessories) from the UK (and other countries), a Live Chat function and a forum for support and queries. A positive step forward for the brand!

CHIHIROS


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## Garuf (16 Mar 2022)

Fingers crossed it goes with an increase in quality of the support.


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## palcente (16 Mar 2022)

I have few of their products and they are excellent; however they lost some points with me by going the "apple" route. If you look at the hanging set for their new pro series, it's some wacky looking proprietary crap.  In short - they got rid of a simple threaded hole and invented a £30 product to replace it. I am a bit more wary of them now.


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## adriancarr (16 Mar 2022)

I ordered a WRGB2 Pro from that site on the 2nd of March and it arrived today (15th). So about 2 weeks for delivery, which isn't too bad from a Chinese website. It was tracked, so you could follow the parcel's progress to some degree.


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## Wookii (16 Mar 2022)

adriancarr said:


> I ordered a WRGB2 Pro from that site on the 2nd of March and it arrived today (15th). So about 2 weeks for delivery, which isn't too bad from a Chinese website. It was tracked, so you could follow the parcel's progress to some degree.



Was it all duty and VAT paid as the website suggests, or did you get hit for extra charges by customs?


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## adriancarr (16 Mar 2022)

Wookii said:


> Was it all duty and VAT paid as the website suggests, or did you get hit for extra charges by customs?



It was supposed to be covered, and I didn't pay any duty or VAT. Though I did notice they may have undervalued it on the customs declaration.


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## Courtneybst (17 Mar 2022)

Wookii said:


> Visited the Chihiros website today to check out their new Nova 1 light.


Thinking of getting salty? 👀


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## Wookii (17 Mar 2022)

Courtneybst said:


> Thinking of getting salty? 👀



lol No mate, thats a bit beyond my skill level - I was checking to see if they had a freshwater version - I've been hoping for a while that they'll release a small form factor light that kind of size using the same RGB LED's in their Vivid II/WRGBII lights.


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## Hanuman (17 Mar 2022)

What they should do is release a light with a wider coverage angle (front to back) for farmers or dutch type scapes. Unfortunately the latest WRGB 2 Pro shrunk in width.


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## erwin123 (17 Mar 2022)

online store appears to have a 15% markup versus my LFS.


Hanuman said:


> What they should do is release a light with a wider coverage angle (front to back) for farmers or dutch type scapes. Unfortunately the latest WRGB 2 Pro shrunk in width.



Shrunk it width is good, makes it easier to use 2 x WRGB2 Pro for tanks that are 40cm back to front. Currently can barely fit 2 x WRGB2 into 40cm.

I'm using 2 x WRGB2 and my tank is 45cm back to front.


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## Wookii (17 Mar 2022)

Hanuman said:


> What they should do is release a light with a wider coverage angle (front to back) for farmers or dutch type scapes. Unfortunately the latest WRGB 2 Pro shrunk in width.



Can't you just raise the light, or are you already running it at 100%?


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## Hanuman (17 Mar 2022)

erwin123 said:


> Shrunk it width is good, makes it easier to use 2 x WRGB2 Pro for tanks that are 40cm back to front. Currently can barely fit 2 x WRGB2 into 40cm.
> 
> I'm using 2 x WRGB2 and my tank is 45cm back to front.


Well the point would be to only have 1 not 2, hence why I suggested a wider version would be better. But yes I know some have 2 x WRGB. The absolute width of the WRGB2 Pro did not shrunk BTW, it's the light panel within the frame that did. LEDs are now more tightly packed.



Wookii said:


> Can't you just raise the light, or are you already running it at 100%?


I prefer lights to be as close as possible to the surface  so that they are less aggressive on the eyes.


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## alnitak (17 Mar 2022)

> I prefer lights to be as close as possible to the surface so that they are less aggressive on the eyes.


Hello, did you try the shades ? I have, and very efficient to protect the eyes. Mine (WRGB2) hangs currently at about 15-20 cm above the surface, and I have no light in the eyes. If I remove the shades, I confirm that it is a nightmare for the eyes.


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## Hanuman (17 Mar 2022)

alnitak said:


> Hello, did you try the shades ? I have, and very efficient to protect the eyes. Mine (WRGB2) hangs currently at about 15-20 cm above the surface, and I have no light in the eyes. If I remove the shades, I confirm that it is a nightmare for the eyes.


Shades matter little when you have children in the house or if you have midget friends


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## alnitak (17 Mar 2022)

> Shades matter little when you have children in the house or if you have midget friends


I understand ,. In fact, I have no children (I have, but they are >20 years old), and my midget friends have no time to watch the tank, because they are running everywhere to try and escape from my cat


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## Wookii (17 Mar 2022)

Hanuman said:


> Shades matter little when you have children in the house or if you have midget friends



The glare from higher lights is an issue I agree - but I like higher mounted lights for ease of access for maintenance etc. I've always liked the look of the shades on the ADA Solar RGB:







They look quite effective at cutting the glare and light overspill compared to the Chihiros ones which give too wide a final aperture - I plan to make some myself that are similar to the ADA ones, but to fit the Vivid II.


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## alnitak (17 Mar 2022)

> I like higher mounted lights for ease of access for maintenance etc



I use this kind of rollers (easyrollers), that let you increase or decrease the height of the lights, just by lifting or pulling. Very convenient for maintenance . They are just adapted to the chihiros suspension kit


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## Wookii (17 Mar 2022)

alnitak said:


> I use this kind of rollers (easyrollers), that let you increase or decrease the height of the lights, just by lifting or pulling. Very convenient for maintenance . They are just adapted to the chihiros suspension kit
> 
> View attachment 184604



That's a great solution!


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## Hanuman (17 Mar 2022)

Wookii said:


> but I like higher mounted lights for ease of access for maintenance etc


I agree and wish I could. My ceiling is nearly 5 meters high and I am renting so don't want to be drilling holes and the back wall is made out of some brittle red bricks.


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## Hanuman (17 Mar 2022)

alnitak said:


> use this kind of rollers (easyrollers)


In the past I looked for those for a while after I saw the video from Jurijs Jutjajevs but then remembered I am renting 😅. There seems to be many different copy cat brands out there many of which are not suitable as they are rated for higher weights.


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## Wookii (17 Mar 2022)

Hanuman said:


> I agree and wish I could. My ceiling is nearly 5 meters high and I am renting so don't want to be drilling holes and the back wall is made out of some brittle red bricks.



Child and midget glare aside, if you did want raised lights, there are systems you can get to bolt onto the cabinet instead:







Or ones that attach directly to the glass rim (though I'll admit they make me a little nervous):


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## Hanuman (17 Mar 2022)

Been there done that. I had the rim version for the VIVID2, which I then sold because not suitable for a 90cm tank. Spread is pretty bad and you need to raise the light considerably to have proper coverage. Then you get light bleed and eye sore....
Ultimately the point was I would like Chihiros to make a wider light, that targets farmers and dutch style users instead of one having to resort to having 2 lights as it is currently done by many. I don't want to be dealing with 2 lights, 2 power supplies for a 90 Cm tank.


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