Ilford's Washing Aid = Kodak HCA?

[jeff_singer]

Is Ilford's "washing aid" the same as Kodaks HCA? I just used it for the first

time and when taking the top of my tank it was all foamy inside. This made

me wonder if the "washing aid" was the same as Kodak's photoflo, but I know

that Ilford has a product that is called "wetting agent" I believe, which should

be their version of photoflo.

 

Just in case I've been washing my negs longer than normal.

 

I just don't want to deal with Kodak's powder hypo remover so I was trying the

Ilford washing aid. If I shouldn't be using Ilford Washing Aid, what is a good

liquid version of HCA?

 

Thanks,

jeff

[patric_dahl_n]

Why not mix your own "HCA"? Just a tablespoon of Sodium sulfite in one liter water will do it.

[eugene_singer]

Jeff' get a bottle of Heico Permawash. Follow the mixing instructions. The one litre bottle goes a long way. It contains sodium sulfite and ammonium sulfite in the proper proportions. Ilford's Washing Aid is, essentially, a sodium sulfite solution, but more expensive to use. Kodak's Hypo Clearing Agent is also sodium sulfite. It is not hypo remover. It's the least expensive to use. Ilford's wetting agent is called Ilfotol. Similar to Kodak's Photo Flo and Edwald's LFC. You really don't need to use hypo clearing agent with film, or RC paper. They do not absorb fixer. FB paper does, so you only need to use it with FB paper. I don't know why the top of your tank was foamy. Did you have some residual wetting agent in the tank? Pick up "The Film Developing Cookbook", by Anchell and Troop. It will really help you to understand what's going on in the world of film processing. Visit the Ilford website ilford.com. You can download tons of info there.

[ann_clancy3]

stong agitation can create that effect. It should not be a problem.

[rick_jones5]

I'm aware of 6 readily available liquid washing aids: your Ilford Universal Wash Aid, Zonal-Pro Archival Rinse, Heico PermaWash,Photographer's Formulary Hypo Clear Agent, Edwal 4 and 1 and Orbit Bath. As far as I know they all do what they are supposed to do equally well.