welcome to MAAST. You'll find a lot of us came from the cichlid hobby....I also was a breeder for awhile. Actually my many broods funded my first SW tank. Funny thing is...after some time in all the complications of the saltwater reef aquarium addiction we find ourselves entertaining the thought of setting a cichlid tank up again.

Anyways...sounds like you are off to a good start. You are in the right place too. Ask lots of questions, get lots of opinions and make the best decision that you think will work best for your scenario.

You definitely need to get some liverock and start cycling that before getting any livestock. A good solid cycle on "live" rock or "dead" rock will be 4-6 weeks once you add it to the tank.