It does not matter, you can run the tank as normal and no part or design will stop the cycle. Skimming won’t hurt, running socks won’t harm or catch the bacteria. There are posts online saying it will strain out the bacteria, a sock, I guess that’s true if the bacteria are the size of sand grains ( half a million cycling bac fit on a sand grain)
add the bac, add a pinch of flake food, and a squirt of ammonia. Let stew five days with the aquarium hooked up as it will be, cycle is done. Fritz is ready in two days, waiting a whole five total is considered a long wait nowadays. Other brands take longer fritz is the fastest
the only thing you could do to stop the cycle would be to measure, dose and sustain matched antibiotics as you add the bac. The cycle will complete no matter what, check to see there’s some nitrate at the end to prove the bottle bac wasn’t dead from bad shipping or storage etc
Notice this trend: in any forum other than reefkeeping, everyone acknowledges the presence of bacteria in fluid media. It’s a given if you haven’t sterilized the water, all work surfaces, and surrounding air. But as soon as we inquire on a reef forum there are fifteen ways a mistake we make will prevent all contamination/ water bacteria, and only one way that wont.
Literally all other industries wish it was that way or even 1/100th that way.
