Site terms explained

Underground Aquarium uses a few words of its own. This page explains what they mean on the site. For fish keeping terms like "cycling" or "bioload", use the Glossary instead (see Glossary).

Account and community words

Username and @handle

Your public name, made of letters, numbers and underscores, shown as @yourname. Your public profile lives at /u/yourname. See Choosing a username and the Welcome page.

Dashboard

Your private home page at /profile, called Dashboard & settings in the menu and opened by Me on phones. Only you see it. Your public profile is the page everyone else sees.

Feed

The stream of posts, photos, tank updates, new listings and milestones at /feed. It has two tabs: Following (people and shops you follow) and Everyone. See The feed.

Following

Choosing to see someone's posts in your Following feed. You can follow members and shops. See Following people and shops.

Tanks

Your aquariums, shown on your profile with photos and stocking. You can build them in the Tank Builder and share them. See Sharing your tank.

Bubbles and bubble tiers

Bubbles are points you earn for taking part: posting, helping, sharing and coming back. They add up to a balance shown on your Dashboard and profile. They're a reputation score, not money.

Your balance places you in a bubble tier. There are 21 tiers named after ocean depths, starting at Tide Pool (0 bubbles), then Shallows (25), Kelp Forest (75) and on down to Leviathan (125,000), the hardest to reach. Reaching a new tier sends you a notification. See Bubbles and Bubble tiers and milestones.

The bubbles floating up behind every page are only decoration.

Trophies

Badges you earn automatically for things you do on the site, like posting, helping others, sharing tanks and inviting friends. The site describes 140 of them, and they show in a trophy case on your public profile. The Society has its own set of trophies for members. See Trophies.

Classifieds words

Classifieds, ad and listing

Free local ads for fish, shrimp, snails, plants, coral, tanks and gear. "Ad" and "listing" mean the same thing. There's no fee, no commission and no checkout: buyer and seller message on the site and arrange the rest themselves. See Posting a classified ad.

State and area

Ads are organized by state, then by area, which is a metro area inside that state (for example Sacramento in California). You pick your area when you post, so your ad shows to keepers near you. "Browse by area" in the footer opens the list of states and areas. See Choosing your area.

Wanted / ISO

A category for ads where you're looking for something instead of selling it. ISO means "in search of". Wanted ads show "Wanted" instead of a price, and you mark them Mark found instead of Mark sold.

Free Stuff

A category for things you're giving away.

Bumped and renewing

Ads last 45 days. Renew 45 days on My listings gives an ad a fresh 45 days and moves it back to the top as if it were just posted. "Bumped" shows when an ad was last posted or renewed. See Editing, renewing and expiry.

Expired, sold, draft and removed

Listing statuses you may see on My listings: active (live), draft (not published yet), sold (marked sold or found), expired (its 45 days ran out) and removed (taken down). See My listings.

Forum words

Thread and reply

A thread is a forum topic someone started. Everyone else adds replies under it. See Forums overview.

Float up and Sink

Our words for upvote and downvote. Float up means a post is helpful. Sink means it isn't. See Forum voting.

Hot, Unanswered, pinned and locked

Hot in the forums lists busy threads. Unanswered topics are threads still waiting for a reply (see Unanswered threads). A pinned thread stays at the top of its category. A locked thread says "This thread is locked." and can't get new replies.

The Society words

The Society

Short for the Underground Aquarium Society, our national membership club for serious keepers: one national body, no chapters. It has membership dues. Members log spawns, earn titles and get signed certificates. See The Society overview.

Member number

Every Society member gets a permanent number in the format UAS-0001, shown in the member area and on their Dashboard.

Good standing

A member whose membership is current. Members in good standing wear a gold ring around their profile photo across the site.

Dues, lifetime and honorary lifetime

Dues are the Society's yearly membership fee. Lifetime membership is a one-time payment instead of yearly dues. Honorary lifetime membership is granted free by the Society. See Society dues and renewal and Lifetime and honorary membership.

Member area

The members-only part of The Society, with spawn logs, the breeder program, certificates and the leaderboard. See Society member area.

Breeder Award Program

The Society's program that awards points and titles for spawning and raising fish. People often call it the BAP. See Breeder Award Program.

Spawn log

A dated record of one breeding attempt, built in stages with photos, that you submit for judging. Its status moves through In progress, Submitted, Peer review, With the judge, and then Approved or Rejected. It can also be Under appeal or Withdrawn. See Spawn logs and submissions.

Challenge code

A unique code issued when you open a spawn log. You write it on a card and put it beside the pair in your first photo, which proves the photos are new and yours.

Peer review and the judge

Other members review a submitted spawn log first (Peer review), then a Society judge makes the final decision (With the judge).

Points and classes

Each species is worth points based on how hard it is to breed, from class A (5 points, breeds readily in a community tank) through B (10), C (15), D (20), E (25) to F (40, rarely bred in captivity at all).

First in the Society

A label on an approved spawn when it's the first time any member has bred that species in the Society.

Certificate and Certificate Registry

Society members get a signed certificate for each title they earn. Anyone can check a certificate is real on the Certificate Registry at Verify a certificate. See Society certificates and Verifying a certificate.

Leaderboard

The ranking of Society members by breeder points. See Society leaderboard.

Officer

A member who helps run a club or the Society and can see club management pages. See Clubs.

Fish store words

Independent fish store

The store directory lists independent aquarium shops, not big chains. Shops Near Me sorts them by distance from you. See Finding a fish store.

Claimed shop

A store page the real owner has taken over. Claimed shops show a check badge ("Claimed by the owner") and can post updates, set hours, add photos and reply to reviews. Owners can claim their shop for free. See Claiming your store.

Spotted in stock

Short notes from shoppers about what they saw at a store recently, like "Big batch of cherry shrimp". See Suggesting store fixes and sightings.

Suggest a fix

The link on a store page for reporting wrong details, like hours or an address.

Tools words

Tank Builder

A planner at /tank-builder where you pick a tank and stock it, and it warns you about aggression, size and bioload problems before you buy. See Tank Builder.

Water Check

A tool at /water-check where you enter your water test results and get a plain answer about what's wrong. See Water Check.

Trade code

A code the hobby uses for fish without a settled name, like "L046" for a plecostomus. You can search Fish Species by trade code. See Species directory.

Common problems

I earned bubbles. Can I spend them? No. Bubbles are a reputation score that sets your tier. There's nothing to spend them on, and they have no cash value.

I see a gold ring around some people's photos. What does it mean? They're members of the Underground Aquarium Society in good standing.

What's the difference between my Dashboard and my profile? Your Dashboard (/profile) is private and holds your settings and shortcuts. Your public profile (/u/yourname) is what other people see.

Why does my ad say "Bumped 3 days ago" when I posted it weeks ago? You renewed it, which counts as a fresh posting and moves it back to the top.

I don't see a word here. Try the Glossary for fish keeping terms, or search the Help Center. If it's a word on our site that isn't explained anywhere, email support@undergroundaquarium.com and we'll add it.