Bottles for storing developers

Hello wise men:

 

As I told in previous posts, I found that ID-11 developer gets

stronger as it oxidice with air, and I had no consistent results

when I use the last 250 ml of the 1 litre stock solution, I mean,

after being exposed to air( it is incredible but 15 days are enough

to have not consistency in developing). You told me that D-76/ID-11

sufered this fenomen( thank you) .

I am trying to find suitable bottles that avoid air. I have read many

posts in wich you recomend dark glass bottles. Before trying to find

glass bottles (I think they are dangerous if broken), I want to make

two questions:

 

 

1- How can I know if a plastic bottles breathes air? . Could I use

COKE (Coca Cola) plastic 500ml bottles?. Can I asume that If they are

designed not to pass CO2, will they be suitable for storing

developer, If I store it in a dark place?

 

2- Does tap water cause only inconsistence in developer strenght doue

to PH diferences or It causes also quicker developer degradation?

 

I am very happy with Rodinal as I could not find any of this problems

as it turns dark. I get very consistent results with it.

 

 

Many thanks.( sorry for my poor english)

Buy brown glass bottles. Me and my father have used them for twenty years without breaking any of them. I use an antioxidizing gas, Tetenal Protectan in the bottles with developers. It works great.

All plastic bottles pass air. At least the ones I know. With pop you've got two things. The high pressure means a little loss isn't much of an issue. The other thing is most pop is consumed so quickly that any loss wouldn't be noticed. If they start selling vintage wine in plastic then I'll believe it doesn't pass O2.

 

The tap water is going to depend on your tap water.

 

All I use for storing things are empty liquor bottles. They are sturdy. Kept in the dark they are dark. The only developer I keep is print developer since I make my film developer up fresh and use it single shot.

If you are really worried about glass, there is a grade of plastic that is impervious to air, and I know at least one manufacturer (I'm sorry, I'm blanking on the name - maybe someone else with a better memory will help) who was making the collapsible style plastic bottles with this material to help deal with oxidation issues. If you are comfortable with glass, brown amber bottles (or really any bottle, dark wine and liquor bottles) will work fine also. Buy a bunch of marbles and as you use the devloper, fill the bottle with marbles to raise the level of liquid to the brim. Good luck, DJ

Go to a club and get free old wine bottles. I mix staight D-76 and fill up 4 to the top; and one about 3/4 way; for 1 gallon. Store the bottles under the sink; and away from light. The completely sealed 4 bottles will last 6 months; and a 1/2 full unused bottle 2 months. I have been doing this for 3 decades without a problem. <BR><BR>Plastic bottles breath; and will spoil developer. 2 liter coke bottles have a limited shelf life; and glass bottles do not. <BR><BR>Using brown bottles only matters if one doesnt have a dark cabinet to keep ones wine bottles in. I prefer the green bottles; so I can see if their is any crud in the developer.

Look on the bottom of the bottle. Find the little Triangle shape. If it has a 1 or a 3 in the middle it is the least likly to pass Oxygen. Other numbers are better used for anything other than Developers. Not all plastic bottles have these though. I tryed to find glass myself. Hard to find anymore

I use Coke or other pop bottles. They may not be perfect but they are about as air tight as a plastic bottle can be. I have no trouble storing full bottles for 6 months. The amount of light the stuff gets when stored in the average darkroom is next to none. Clear bottles are fine. Fill three to the very top! The fourth bottle will be about half full. Use it first.

<a href="http://www.photoformulary.com">Photographer's Formulary</a> sells amber glass bottles - I got 6 of the 300 ML ones for storing TFX-2 in. They look like vitamin bottles! Plastic lids, wide mouth, I'm satisfied. Note though, that I will not be keeping the developer in them longer than a few months, as I use a lot of TFX-2 these days. Seen.

Like others, I would forget plastic and use dark glass bottles for developers. I like port of sherry bottles with corks with the plastic 'handle' which hold up better and are easier to grip than a wine bottle cork.

I use wine bottles and pump/stopper system made by "vac u vin" (originally designed to extract air from partially empty wine bottles and available at many liquor stores). CAUTION: The stopper has a slit in the top that the air is extracted from. If you insert the stopper in a completely full bottle, the pressure will force any excess liquid STRAIGHT UP THRU THE SLIT. I know because I shot a stream of xtol straight into my face. My last batch of xtol is going on 9 months old and seems good as the day mixed. Just make sure you're careful with full bottles and, obviously, don't use the pump/stopper on a drinking beverage after it's been contaminated with photo chemistry.

There are lab-glass bottles covered with plastic too. :-)

Thank you friends:

 

I have got several wine green 1 litre bottles at home. Only a question. Does the cork breath oxigen?

 

Thank you.

The system to bottle and preserve wine has the goal of preventing O2 from reaching the imbibing liquid. Ethanol, present in wine beer and nyquil, will oxidize just like a developer. If the wineries will sell their $80 aged cabernet in a cork stoppered glass bottle, then you should trust that your developer will also be safe. But as was previously mentioned, there is O2 inside the bottle when you go to stopper it, and using a vacuum seal device will remove this, or Protectan will displace it. Have fun emptying the wine bottles.

But don't forget the cork needs to stay wet to work. Will the cork stand up to the chemicals? Do you really want cork floating in your developer? I don't know but I'd stick to something other then cork.

I know I'm way late with this, but there is at least one company, Lab Safety, that will be happy to sell you clear or amber glass bottles in any size from 100ml to 1 gal. they also sell non-permeable plastic bottles (Nalgene) and plastic coated glass bottles, for those concerned about breakage. They ain't cheap, but they ain't bad either.

 

http://www.labsafety.com/home.htm, look under Products, then Labware, then Plasticware and Glassware. While you are here, you will find Balances, Scales, Beakers, and lots of other measuring devices that will work in your formulary kit.

Well, if you go down to your friendly druggist, he just may have a zillion brown glass bottles with perfectly good caps that he will be happy to give you.

 

I get half/liter ones from mine. Work perfectly for developer as I use it a half/liter at a time. And they are rectangular instead of round which saves space.

Old thread, I know. I'm certainly not an expert but I've always used Coke bottles and nothing ever happened. Squeeze the air out and you are good to go. I think better than a half full brown bottle. All of my chemicals are stored in a dark cabinet, on the cool side.

And I just found amusing how people found glass bottles difficult to obtain in 2003. They are still around today in Georgia.

I know this is an old thread (2003), but if anyone is still looking for glass bottles for developer, etc., you can get Boston Round Amber bottles in various sizes at:

 

www.uline.com

 

Anything from 1 quart down to 2 oz. by the case only, but 1 quart bottles are $2.50 each in a case of 12, with caps.

 

They also stock thousands of other items for packaging, materials handling, warehousing, safety, etc.

soda bottles work just fine.

 

i dont drink soda so after we have parties, there are always unopened soda left over till we host another party many months later. never had any problems with "old" soda going flat... they dont leak!

The plastic resin to look for is "PET", polyethylene terephthalate. This is what beverage bottles are made from. The beneficial property of PET is its low (a good thing) oxygen permeability vs. the "brown jug" plastic, which is HDPE.

I don't tend to keep the bottles that long , I'm not worried about leaching. My neighbor is a soda junkie so my bottle supply is unlimited. At this price, you cant find a better deal anywhere.

 

my fixer (Kodak Rapid liquid), if left too long between sessions, is clouding up with a heavy white participate at the bottom. Its almost impossible to get out, regardless of what type of material its made of. So the disposables have made my life that much easier.

Grolsch beer bottles have a unique cap assembly that some photographers have found to be a good storage bottle.

I use one quart amber glass "growlers" bottle used to package microbrewery beer.

 

I replace the original thin metal bottlecap with the heavy plastic ones from household bleach bottles.

Most pharmacies have a surplus of 1 or 2.5 litre brown potion/lotion bottles that are (surprise) specifically designed for storing chemical solutions. They have completely airtight stoppers.

 

If you speak to the pharmacist nicely and explain why you want the bottles, you can often get them for free, or for cost.