Converting from planted community to Cichlids

Hi group,

Im thinking about converting my 160litre tank from its current state
as a heavily planted aquarium (co2, ferts etc) to a cichlid tank and i
have a few questions. At the moment i know nothing about cichlids but
quite a lot about aquaria in general. (so im not a newbie per se)

1. Nitrates - my tapwater nitrates are around the 40ppm mark (pretty
much standard here in the uk unfortunately). My planted tank has lower
nitrates than the tap water level. With a cichlid tank, i wont be
having many plants at all so this nitrate level will remain at around
40ppm with regular water changes. Is this ok, or will i have to go
back to using a nitrate removal mechanism such as a nitragon. I was
hoping not to have to if possible.

2. My water parameters are as follows
ph 8.2 out of the tap, hardness around 12.5 dKh, nitrates 40ppm. Most
of the harness is calcium, very little magnesium. Is this OK for the
African cichlids.

3. I would like quite a few colourful cichlids. Any recommendations?
Am i right in thinking that there are dwarf cichlids? How big do they
grow? I appreciate that there are more compatibility issues with
cichlids so i would just like some opinions as to what other people
put in their tanks.

4. Will i need extra filtration? I have an Eheim 2215 cannister filter
at the moment. Seems to do alright with my current fishload, but by
removing the plants, will i have to have extra biological filtration?

5. Algae, having a well planted tank, i have no algae problems with
3.5wpg thanks to ferts and co2 etc. With no plants and this lighting
level, i know i will get algae. What should i reduce lighting to in
order to prevent the build up of algae. I was thinking maybe 80 watts
(2wpg) or less.

Im sure i will have more questions, but thanks in advance for any
replies

Cheers

Mark

<Chopped original questions and replies>

Thanks netmax, as always, a very detailed response.

Ive come to some kind of decision!! I will probably wait until my co2 tank
runs out (which shouldnt be too long now) and then i am going to convert. I
have a load of pigmy chain swords and e.tenellus as a carpet in my tank
which i think will have to come up, its starting to get a bit straggly
anyway. Ive always liked vals and i have a few red tipped ones that dont
seem to do too well in the lower ph with co2 but used to grow like anything
pre-co2. I will try to keep these and maybe buy some more to get a nice
dense "val jungle" in one area of my tank to help with nitrate absorbtion. I
dont want too much variation in plants; my current setup i have to pull
meters of hygro and bacopa out every week. Takes me ages! (hence the reason
im moving away from densely planted aquaria). Good thing about vals is that
they can just be lopped off at the top. I will also get some floating
plants as you suggested

I really like the look of slate so ive decided to make a real rock
background with some pieces of thin slate (5-6mm) that i found in my garden
while digging it up. Im going to silicone (aquatic silicone or course) it
all together onto a perspex sheet and put it inside the tank. Should look
like a natural stone wall without taking up too much tank space. Will do the
usual washes/tests etc.

I was also thinking that i have the following fish in my tank, which ones
would i need to get rid of and which ones would you recommend keeping? (i
have put an X by the ones i think are not compatible with cichlids)

1 Male betta X
5 Harlequins
4 Neons X
5 Glowlights X
7 Corys (bronze and pepper mix)
3 Siamese algae eaters (genuine ones ) - not sure about these
3 black mollies (one of which is a 3 month old baby) X
2 Sunset platys X
5 amano shrimp X - i think these make tasty food for cichlids?

I have a list of Cichlids that should be OK together in my tank, got it from
a website somewhere and i like it. I will see if they are available locally
over the weekend and may come back with some more questions about them. The
list is

1m 2f Labidochromis (Mbuna) - I especially like the Mamba yellow top
1m 2f Cynotilapia (Dwarf Mbuna)
1m 2f Copadichromis ("Utuka".) like peacocks
small school of dither fish (harlequins probably)
1 or 2 dwarf pl*cs

What do you think??

Thanks again

Mark