220 Gallon "room divider" salt water aquarium, recently installed by Blue Planet.

How does your aquarium service company handle quality control?

How does your aquarium service company handle quality control? 

Truth is, they don’t. 

Truth be told, there a few different types of aquarium service providers out there.

If you have a “guy and a bucket” type, one or two man operation, what you probably have is someone that probably has full or part time “real” jobs and are servicing aquariums on the side for a little mad money or to facilitate their hobby of aquarium keeping. 

If you’re having your local aquarium shop service your aquarium, remember, despite the fact the Chicagoland area boasts some beautiful places, their priority is their storefront first, service and installation second. Sadly, often times a distant second at that. Your technician is often someone who is splitting time between the shop and the field and the reason why the shop wants to support service in the first place is simply to sell more fish and product, already in stock at the storefront.

Lastly, there are organized companies such as Blue Planet that take time to train their staff, feature benefits such as 24 hour emergency service, are fully insured, have 9-5 office support and etc, but one thing that sets Blue Planet apart from everyone else offering aquarium service; quality control.

Every week at Blue Planet starts with The Monday Morning Meeting. This is a time where the entire company will sit down together, review the upcoming work week, have a tech talk session which reviews equipment, issues in the field, discuss fish health and water chemistry and most important; conduct a video review of the work completed the previous week.

Each tech is supplied with an HD video camera. Upon arriving at an account, they will shoot a preliminary video of what the tank initially looks like. After the service has been completed, they will shoot another video of the finalized work, which includes a synopsis of water chemistry test results. This allows for everyone in the company to review each and every service and installation performed by the company the previous week. Also, constructive criticism by all is encouraged on topics ranging on anything from aquarium décor, to fish selection, to even how well the cabinet and supplies are kept. 

This is also an opportunity to discover potential problems on the horizon and fix them before they begin. This quality control/video review meeting is something that is unique to Blue Planet and is how we can confidently say, we are the only company you should call for aquarium design, installation and service. 

May 2012 at Blue Planet

Been kinda quiet in May have we?

That's because installations take time and my goodness, we have a bunch going on. Also, capturing video and photos of aquariums being installed on construction sites or home remodeling projects doesn't look all the great, until all the work is done. We are in the midst of installing a 260 gallon reef aquarium in Addison IL, a 220 gallon reef aquarium on the Northside of Chicago, a 220 gallon salt water "fish only" tank in Northbrook and lastly a small but extremely cool little 30 gallon custom salt water fish only tank as well in Lombard IL.

In the meantime while our installation crew is busy with these jobs, out service techs have taken on ten new clients in each of the past two months. If you are one of those client's, welcome aboard!

On top of all that we've got new aquarium proposals out for a dozen new installations this month from 50 to 1500 gallons and have three on the books for installation next month including a 200 gallon bow front aquarium and a 400 gallon, "radius cornered" aquarium which is being fabricated to match the curvature of a wall. the finished project will look something like this;

It'll be beautiful, that's for sure. Another neat thing that two of the tanks going up next month is they are getting is a full coral exhibit, custom made for each tank. Rather than the smaller coral displays we put together for each tank in an ad-hoc fashion, which makes it easy to simply pluck out corals, clean and replace them in the aquariums, these custom coral exhibits give a look more of what you might see in a public aquarium. We'll certainly get videos and photos out when they are done, Try and be patient, we're installing as fast as we can!

This month's video and featured aquarium; 160 gallon salt water fish, room divider/in wall style.

The room divider style is very popular in custom aquarium design and installation. Take a look and see for yourself;

New Video, Corner Aquariums

New video, Corner Aquariums

Corner aquariums are an excellent use of space for those who want a tank but don't have much floor space to do so;

Huntington's Disease Society of America

Yep, glad to help.

300 Gallon salt water fish aquarium in a college dorm in downtown Chicago.

When we first received an inquiry about possibly installing an aquarium for these folks, it started from a simple email from an office worker saying "We need, like a quote, for like a 50 gallon freshwater aquarium." No problem, I sent over estimates for couple options around 50 gallons for them to review. Then they sent another email saying "I guess we need, like a bigger one". "No problem", I said "why don't I come out, throw a tape measure against the wall and take a look at what you might need?"

That turned into something much bigger than 50 gallons and much better than a freshwater tank. 

As it turns out, the building is a mixed use dorm for three different colleges downtown. It house over 1,700 students and is at full capacity. the front counter is a security check in and the aquarium was to serve as a barrier to keep people from entering the building without passing through security. 

The aquarium installation turned out incredible. We worked with the mill workers and carpenter who originally built out the space, so the aquarium doesn't look like an afterthought. It looks like it was there since the space was built, and it is beautiful. The tank has only been up and running for a few months, so the fish population is still building. Students, security and staff all love the tank and it is viewable from State Street as well as being a focal point of the dorm's main lobby.