Mixing developer and fixer

Hi all ,

I want to mix the chemicals for developing. I have read

through many forums that say clean tap water or

distilled water is good enough to make a stock solution. I

live in a place where the tap water is hard and not good

enough. So I don't want to take chances. I've bought a gallon of distilled water, but it says "iron free only", for usage in batteries. I was wondering if this is good enough for making a stock solution.

 

Thanks in advance

Rohan

<p>Hard water alone won't create a problem as long as the pH isn't too far from the neutral point (7.0). It is a good idea if there is a possibility of sediment to filter the water (you could use a coffee filter). It is much more important for the water to be close to the quality of distilled water for the final wash, as you don't want to have watermarks or sediment left on the film as it dries.</p>

Thanks Stephen. I dont have a way to measure the ph

level. My tap water is well over 7. I know thatit iant safe.

So I take it that even though the distilled water I've

bought isn't 100% pure. I can use it since its close to

being pure. Did I get it right?

 

Rohan

<p>Any distilled water is more than good enough for mixing photo chemicals.</p>

Thanks John

<p>If it's distilled, it's very close to being 100% pure, and it will certainly be OK to use.</p>

<p>Many or most people can get by fine with their municipal water for home processing. Where I live, I have the water of the gods, straight from the tap. Some people choose to do their final rinse in distilled or deionized water, but I've never felt the need. YM, as they say, MV.</p>

<p>Any distilled water or even deminiralised water is OK (e.g. Brita water) for photochemicals. In worst case too many Calcium salts and Iron can spoil the developer or give stripes and stains in the wetting agent step. When cooking tap water and cool it down you are loosing already some problems with Calcium salts and also oxygen in the photo water. Cooking water, put it through a Brita filter and coffee filter is the best semiprofessional solution you can do. Then you are going to any reverse osmose system but this is already overdone for photochemicals. Tap water can vary very much world wide.</p>

<p>Chemistry labs commonly use deionized water, where it goes through both a cation and anion exchange resin. That should be much cheaper than actual distilling. I think you can sometimes find that in bottles in stores.</p>

<p>Home water softeners use cation exchange to metal ions with sodium ions. In most cases, that should be just fine. Any water you buy in bottles, unless it specifically has extra minerals added, should be fine.</p>

<p>Diafine recommends distilled water. For a developer you will be using for years, it doesn't seem too much. As usual, the developer is more sensitive, so if you are at all unsure, use better water for that. Boiling gets the air out of water (just before it boils) which you might also do before using it for a developer. </p>

<p>There are ions in household water that aren't good for lead-acid (car) batteries. As noted above, calcium and iron are two ions that are commonly in house hold water, and that in high concentrations can cause problems. If the water has a red color, it might have too much iron.</p>

<p>Usually a rinse agent, such as Photo-flo, will be enough for a final rinse, but for hard water that might still be too much.</p>

<p>I live in an area with hard water and quite a high iron content but I use mains water with no problems. I would however recommend filtering the water either through a proper water filter or a coffee filter (for smaller quantities).</p>

Thanks guys for the detailed explanation. Now I feel well

informed.

<p>For some reason, the title of this reminds me of mixing developer and fixer together.</p>

<p>As I understand it, it is recommended by some treatment plants to mix them together before they go down the drain. For one, treatment plants put in air to feed the bacteria that are supposed to eat up the stuff we put down. Developer needs oxygen, and takes it away from the rest of the processing.</p>

<p>I would not put any fixer down the drain. Especially if you use it til it is exhausted. The silver in it will kill the bacteria that they use for processing. It should be properly disposed of. I take mine to a local film processor and they put it through their recovery processor.</p>

<p>As far as the developer, do you drink bottled water? Usually you can find a store brand of reverse osmosis drinking water for cheap. That is what I use when I question the viability of the local tap water.</p>

Hi Clay,

 

I have an RO(reverse osmosis) filter installed in my

kitchen. I drink that water. But I haven't actually done any

research to verify if the process transforms the hard

water into soft water. I've been using distilled water to

mix the chemicals. I use normal tap water (hard water)

for the washing process. For the final rinse, I use a

wetting agent diluted in filtered water that comes from

the RO.