Acropora valida. Intermediate to keep, Typical PAR 180–300, moderate to high flow.
Rarity tier: common, reviewed 2026-08.
A compact, densely branching Acropora valida, typically purple through the body with bright green polyps. GARF is the Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation, which developed the line and put its name on it, so the odd word in front is an institution rather than a colour.
About as forgiving as Acropora gets and a sensible way to find out whether your tank can hold SPS before spending real money. It has also been cut and passed along for decades, so there is no rare lineage of it to be sold: every frag traces to the same colony, and a seller charging a premium for provenance is charging for the word GARF. Pay for size and for a frag that is already encrusted onto its plug.
High light and strong random flow, up in the rockwork. GARF Bonsai is intermediate to keep at a typical PAR of 180–300 in moderate to high flow. A typical starting range for this type of coral rather than a measured requirement for this morph. Spectrum, how it was acclimated and the system it grew in all move it.
No verified sales yet. A range publishes once 3 dated, checkable records from 3 different sources exist, priced per frag and reported as a median, with what shops ask kept separate from what buyers paid. One frag is a single cut on a plug, whatever its exact size. Colonies, mini colonies and mother stock are excluded rather than averaged in. Nothing on this page is for sale. Shops are typically asking $34 to $60 per frag, median $50, across 10 shops surveyed on 2026-09-07; the full sweep ran $10 to $69. Asking prices are what sellers want, not what buyers paid. On 2026-09-07 it was in stock at 10 surveyed shops: battlecorals.com, creamcitycorals.com, newwaveaquaria.com, reeftogo.com, reefundertheroof.com, theaquariumcove.com, and 4 more.