Animal charcoal is an amorphous allotrope of Carbon.
For maximum efficiency, animal charcoal is first activated before use and then used for filtration purposes.
Activated charcoal is the charcoal obtained by heating charcoal at around 1173 K. This process helps to get rid of the impurities which block the tiny pores of the animal charcoal. The efficacy of the adsorption process to adsorb the impurities present in the aquarium.
Adsorption is a process in which particles of a substance stick to the surface of a solid or a liquid.
The property of an element due to which it exists in different physical forms which have identical chemical properties but different physical properties is called as allotropy. The different physical forms of that element are called as allotropes.
Non crystalline or amorphous allotropic forms: The allotropes in which the constituent particles are not arranged in a particular pattern. Example: Coal, charcoal etc.