Recommendations

What pump would you guys recommend for a 100 gal? Need it to be reliable, pretty quiet and not terribly expensive. My dad wants to house a couple dwarf lions.

 

Ecoplus pumps are cheap, quiet, and reliable.

Around $70

EcoPlus Eco 1056 Submersible Pump | Sunlight Supply, Inc. - Indoor Gardening Supplies, Grow Lights, Hydroponics, and Lighting

 

Have you set the tank up yet?

Which tank do you have? The 48" x 24" x 20" or the 72" x 18" x 19"?

How many returns will you have?

How many drains?

Any inline equipment?

How far will you be pumping the water?

If you have any questions regarding keeping lionfish, be sure to give a shout...lionfish are our specialty.

 

At 89 watts thats not a very efficient pump to recommend. Since the pump will be running 24/7/365 look for a well respected brand of efficient pump such as Eheim, Ocean Runner or Water Blaster for a few examples. The Eheim 1262 has basically the same specs and states 80 watts maximum but experience has shown they are conservative in their power consumption and GPH numbers and its more like 1000 GPH and 68+/- watts. The Ocean Runner 3500 is similar at 925 GPH and only 65 watts but I have 3 of these pumps myself and they never draw over 58 watts on a Kill A Watt meter open discharge. The newer stsyle Water Blaster HY series is even more efficient, my HY 5000 is showing 53 w and can outrun my overflow if I let it.
You wil pay more initially for all threes of these brands but you will get a very reliable pump and in the case of the Eheim a 3 year warranty from one of the oldest names in the industry. The Water Blaster also has a 3 year warranty and I am sold on them after my first one. Don't skimp on return pumps, this is something important and you don't want issues with noise, power consumption, heat generation or re starting when the power goes off for any number of reasons. Been there done that and will never go back again.