Best way to divide Developer into multiple bottles

Hi,

I am thinking of buying multiple 100ml bottles to store HC-110 so that I can improve the longevity of the chemical.

I was wondering if anyone has tried using medical sterile vials such as these.

 

I am thinking of using a syringe to extract the chemical whenever I need.

Do you think these bottles prevent air contact? Or the pores in the rubber are not good enough to keep the air away.

 

Thanks for your advice :)

The HC110 concentrate is quite viscous; if you mean to use a syringe with a needle, penetrating a self-sealing rubber top, I think you'll struggle to get it to flow at an acceptable rate. I draw it up with a pipette. That has its problems too; quite a lot stays in the pipette when I drain it out, so I wash it out a couple of times with the water I'm mixing the concentrate with.

I haven't done this with HC110, but if I were to divide a batch of developer, I'd just use a number of rigid glass bottles with good quality screw lids. The one you have open and part-used will have air in, but the rest might keep better. I don't think HC110 degrades that fast anyhow.

I see, thats a good tip.

Maybe dividing into 10 bottles of 100ml each would be a good idea for my setup (as I will be mostly developing a E 1:47) in a single 35mm Film tank.

Not enthusiastic. I fear those bottles will hold a lot of air besides your 100ml? Are you going to sink marbles in each of them? Or spray?

Do you own a veterinarian syringe that will hold 100ml? Anything smaller is an ill fitted tool.

If I was to do lots of film again with powder for 2.5l developer, I'd fill lab bottles for storage. I'd devide them into smaller ones for usage, taking what I need from a 0.5l one. I think I still have cans of Tetenal Protectan.

For measuring I used cylinders that I had marked with sticky tape.

Unless you expect the bottle of concentrate to last for a decade, don't worry about decanting the HC 110 into smaller containers. The concentrate lasts a long time in the original bottle and you would lose a lot of chemistry in the process if transferring it.

Thats great to know, Thanks a lot for these insights.

Saves me some $$ too :D

Might be good to put marbles in the concentrate bottle, as you use some up,

to keep it full. Easier than squeezing air out, though a little squeeze is good.

Looks as if Amazon has made your decision for you.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if Amazon actually has stock of anything. Nearly everything I've looked at on their website lately is "currently unavailable".

[ATTACH=full]1427759[/ATTACH]

Looks as if Amazon has made your decision for you.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if Amazon actually has stock of anything. Nearly everything I've looked at on their website lately is "currently unavailable".

:D True.

When I bought the big bottle of the syrup I stored it in the fridge (not the freezer). Some time later I split it into several smaller bottles full to the brim, but on warming up one to room temp,the HC-110 expanded and fra,ctured the glass.

 

What a mess.

I have been using HC-110 since 1974 for my B&W film processing (sheet & roll).  I've found that for my results to be consistent I make the stock solution and dilute from that.  I take the larger bottle of concentrate and put that into 2oz glass bottles.  When making a stock solution for my container that holds 16 oz I need 2 of the small bottles. Mixed 1/3 4oz of concentrate with 12 oz of water.  I can use the stock solution up usually in 2 to 3 months and that seems to stay pretty consistent. I've used this method for the thick syrupy version and the newer solution with excellent results. Hope this helps as with film processing and darkroom work consistency is the key.  Saves time and expensive materials and can also improve your results.

On 5/19/2022 at 5:30 PM, glen_h said:

Might be good to put marbles in the concentrate bottle, as you use some up,

to keep it full. Easier than squeezing air out, though a little squeeze is good.

Thanks for this tip.

I used marbles once and they blocked the neck of the bottles whenever I was pouring the chemical out. I stopped using them and instead use soft bottles so as to squeeze the air out and just tighten the cap. Marbles were more trouble than what is was worth. If you use a syringe every time, that might be OK but you'll still need dozens of marbles on hand because it takes more than you think to fill the void at the top, then the size matters so they fit through the neck of the bottle, and they go a slimy black in the chemical after a while and when the times comes to retrieve them, you'll end up discarding them because it's a hell of a job to clean them.

I've also had the costly experience of bottles cracking in the warming up process. I only use plastic bottles now, after that.

HC-110 has a legendary long shelf life. My original bottle of HC-110 dates from 1996, is half full, and works as it should. I use it one-shot style to develop strange, unusual, or unknown films that people sometimes bring me. All other films get developed in a seasoned batch of Replenished Xtol which I wouldn't risk with an unknown film.

Quote

Do you think these bottles prevent air contact? Or the pores in the rubber are not good enough to keep the air away.

These vials don't hold a vacuum in their headspace so if you withdraw 25 ml of solution you need to let in 25 ml of air to take its place. You might as well just open up the top. Isn't one of the selling points of HC 110 that stock solutions are very stable and you don't have to resort to these sorts of drastic measures? Regardless, if you want to divide it up into smaller containers the sterile ones you linked to are overkill: regular Boston round amber bottles with standard caps will be half the price. 

There are various wine preservation gas mixes available that should do the trick.  Can't recall the name, but there was a photography specific one years ago.

Nitrogen does the trick.

I use this kind of bottles in several sizes for different purposes.

For better life of developers I use 250ml units that I fill completely up to the cap (no air inside), so it actually holds a bit less than 270ml of developer.

This way I open bottles as I need them, and I never loose more than a fraction of a bottle if it gets out of date once opened. If you use smaller bottles, you'll have an opened bottle with less solution exposed to the air. Buy the size thinking on the amount of solution you'll use; concentrated, highly diluted, etc. If you use 5ml each time, you'll need a very small bottle. If you need e.g. 100-150ml each time, 250ml are fine. If you buy 1 gallon powder bags, 1000ml bottles are better.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by jose_angel