when i set up my 125, I put everything in at once. 100lbs LR, all my LS, ro/di water and salt mix. less than a week the water parameters were normal. after about 2 weeks I had no more algae bloom from the lighting. When i started breaking in my MH i had some minor bloom, but that passed also after a few days.
dont know why, but it seems to cycle quickly...
of course my LR sat and cured for about 4 months in a seperate tank at the LFS while my tank was being built.. maybe that helped.