Want to start a 50 Gal Cichlid tank, i have a bunch of questions

[cichlidthinker]

First off i have researched a lot and i just want to ask a bunch of questions ,i posted a similar thread yesterday and did not receive enough answers so I'm sorry for the repost !

and yes i'm quite the ''noob'' when it comes to cichlids so all tips and advice are welcome, but i have had fish for couple of years just not cichlids

thinking of buying JUWEL® Aquarium | Vision 180 UK black is this a fine tank?

i calculated that i should get about 20 cichlids (medium sized to small) to reduce aggression?

if i dont want them to breed(i would just have this 1 tank) what do i do ? i still want both female and males..

can i just use normal sand which can be found outside of my house? or is crushed coral way better ?
can i use any rock i would see outside ? only 1 petstore where i live and its VERY limited

i still want pretty big cichlids would you suggest some for a community tank ?
can you suggest good fish that could be together ?

how do i maintain ph 8.5 and how do i get it up ?
can a common pleco be with them i heard its ok ?
can i use a normal filtration system (the one which comes with the tank, bioflow 3.0)
and can i use normal lighting? (the one which comes with the tank)

i really want a beautiful tank with sand substrate and bunch of rocks and hiding places , i also want plants but are fake ones not better when it comes to cichlids ?

also when i see videos of tanks with cichlids in them i see sometimes double layered sand ? whats up with that ?

all help is great !

 

[Mashew]

For me I use cichlid sand it's kinda expensive but it helps with PH. Mine stays at a constant 8.2 I don't do anything with it. Plus With outdoor sand you have the chance of getting icky stuff in it and you would need to rinse it a lot more than with the cichlid or pool sand...
You can either over crowd the tank or do less fish with more hiding spots at least one per fish.
You can have both males and females just when they get pregnant don't do anything with the babies. Just depends on the variety you wanna get with Mbunas males and females are the same color. With peacocks it's way easier to tell them apart just depends on which variety of lake of cichlids you want. For a first tank I would do lake Malawi the varieties for me where way easier to take care of.

 

[Mashew]

Layered sand is just a preference on tank I feel. Haven't looked to far into that part. But fake plants are better. I know of people who keep live plants with cichlids. But they have to do a certain type of cichlid that doesn't like to munch on plants. You just have to research on where that type of cichlid is found naturally in the lake. The deeper the water the less plants they will eat is what ive herd.
You can keep plecos with them I usually put them in with the nitrogen cycle starter fish so they develop a first fish attitude. That way the cichlids mess with them less.

 

[Mashew]

Last bit of info when you get your 50 gal tank make sure that you get one filter that's meant for a 100gallon tank. Or two 50gal filters

 

[cichlidthinker]

Thank you very much for your answers, helped me a lot !