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What is the Coral Growout Season?
Last updated on November 17th, 2023
What is a "Growout Season" for Coral?
When you talk to experienced reefers, local fish store owners, coral farmers, or aquaculture facilities, you may hear them mention growout season. Humorously enough, this is also referred to as the "slow season". While the slow season is just talking about how most people don't buy coral during the summer since they're typically outside, what does this have to do with "growout" or coral growth in general? If you're wondering, don't worry, a lot of people are asking the same question.
What is The Aquarium Slow Season?
If you have ever tried to start an aquarium based business, there is a very good chance that you've seen how business slows down from spring through most of the summer. With people spending their time outside enjoying the weather and taking vacations, they are not spending money or much time on their reef tank.
From a business stand point, this is the slow season. It's like swimsuits and pool toys. It's not that people completely stop buying them out of season, but it's much slower and lower volumes. But you're likely not reading this for a business report, let's get back to the coral here.
What is the Coral Growout Season?
The coral growout season happens to line up with the slow season. This is the time when the weather is nicer and typically windows are open and the tanks are in maintenance only mode. But why is this called the "growout season"?
There are a couple reason this is called the coral growout season. The first is because when the windows are open, CO2 in the house is generally lower and therefore your aquariums pH is generally higher. Additionally, with us reef keepers keeping out hands out of the tank and not modifying things like lights and flow, the coral has a more stable environment. Finally, not cutting coral or moving them, again giving them more stability. All of this combined, tends to lead to better coral growth.
For More about pH, please read my article, The Secret to Reef Tank pH.
Since this is a time with generally better growth, and lower sales, many frags can grow to a "fraggable" size over spring and summer. So, with all of that, this is usually referred to as the growout season.
Conclusion
If you plan to spend an extended period of time doing less with your tank, it may be a good time to pick up some coral so that you can enjoy it when you focus more on your reef. To clarify though, don't spend large amounts of money on difficult coral and ignore it. You still need to do some maintenance, but less overall adjustments.
Recommended Reading:
- How to Start Dosing Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium in Reef Tanks
- Alkalinity in a Reef Tank - Determining Alkalinity Consumption
- The Secret to Reef Tank pH
About the Author
John Krenzer
John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.
Today, John maintains an over 300 gallon reef tank system, consisting of a 120g reef and a 210g reef. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.
John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.
If you would like to request an article, tank tour article, or to collaborate, let me know via the Contact Me Page!
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