UNDERGROUNDAQUARIUM

Underground Aquarium

Certificate Registry

Every certificate we issue is recorded here the moment it's earned. Enter the code printed on one and the registry tells you, on the record, whether it's real.

Printed at the top right and bottom of every certificate.

Holding the paper? Scan the QR code in its corner and you'll land straight on its record.

Reading a code

Every code tells you what it is

UA-BGN9-TV1B-ZR74

UA

The registry

Underground Aquarium. Every code we issue starts this way.

B

The program

What was earned: membership, breeding, a course, and so on.

•••

The serial

Ten random characters. Around a quadrillion possibilities, so they can't be guessed.

4

The check

Worked out from the rest. A mistyped or swapped character gets caught instantly.

Codes never use the letters I, L, O or U, so nothing on the paper can be misread. Type an O for a zero and the registry reads it as a zero anyway.

Programs

What the first letter means

  • MMembershipMembership in the Underground Aquarium Society.
  • BBreeder Award ProgramTitles earned by breeding fish, judged stage by stage.
  • CCoursesCompletion of an Underground Aquarium course.
  • PProfessional CertificationCertification for aquarium store staff and professionals.
  • AHonors & AchievementsSpecial recognition, milestones and honors.

Spotting a fake

What a genuine certificate carries

A registry number

Top right and along the bottom. It has to resolve here, to the same name and the same award.

A QR code

Bottom right. It opens this certificate's own record. Check the web address is undergroundaquarium.com.

The founder's signature

Signed by Christopher M. Lewis, Founder & Judge, and dated the day it was issued.

The Society seal

Brass, centred beneath the award, with the Society's name set around the ring.

The paper is only a copy. The record here is the certificate. If a code doesn't appear in the registry, or the name doesn't match, it wasn't issued by us.

Stores and employers

Hiring someone who says they hold an Underground Aquarium certification? Ask for the code and check it here. It's free, public and instant, and it shows only what's printed on the certificate. Questions go to hello@undergroundaquarium.com.