What happened to fixer?

[btgc]

Tonight decided to make some prints, and mix fresh fixer before. Opened bottle of Ilford Rapid fixer (1L bottle, 2/3 of content left), poured into beaker and...what? Tiny something is floating in mixer, on surface I see sort of flakes or flat crystals.

Retrieved filter to put mix through it, but then discovered electricity extender is taken away from home. Poured mixed fixer into bottle until tomorrow - interesting, if tiny specks will dissolve in water until that.

Anyone familiar with what I have met?

 

[__hh]

I recently noticed this with my Ilford Rapid Fix as well. Have not touched the bottle in over 3 months and maybe that's the cause. Opened bottles have air in them and I guess that if we let it sit for too long, chemical reaction between the fixer and the air kicks in.

I continued with my development process. Things came out fine. I think that (in my case), the little white flat flakes weren't enough to affect the fixing process.

 

[ath]

That's sulfur. Your fixer is going bad.

 

[btgc]

All that happened because I didn't fill in glass beads to eliminate air in bottle?

 

[Frontman]

I've had the same thing happen with Rapid fix, I simply use a cotton strainer to remove particles. I now use Fuji fixer and have had no problems with it.

 

[trojancast]

So everything has a shelf life. The question is, how long has your fixer sat unused?

 

[btgc]

Let me think....1.5 years? Until now I mostly developed film and reused mixed fixer so 1L were too much for me, but store hadn't smaller quantity then.

Do you recommend me to discard this bottle (just take to photolab) and buy fresh fixer? I guess in smaller 0.25L bottles I can buy Tetenal Superfix Plus.

 

[sanmich]

I asked the same question, not long ago and the advice was to dump it.
It's what I did. I don't want to take any chance to have badly fixed negs that will be unusable in a decade...

 

[btgc]

Thanks sanmich, I'll better sacrifice $35 of remaining fixer than regret this after years. Probably local shop now has small Ilford bottles, or I may order from macodirect. I don't mind using Ilford or Tetenal but I want to have same chems available in future.

edit: the fact I forgot price I paid for fixer probably indicates how old it is. Whole bottle were about $15 so I'll dump just remaining $10 🙂

 

[user237428934]

Thanks sanmich, I'll better sacrifice $35 of remaining fixer than regret this after years. Probably local shop now has small Ilford bottles, or I may order from macodirect. I don't mind using Ilford or Tetenal but I want to have same chems available in future.

$35 ??? How much old fixer do you have? The fixer I use cost 7 EUR for a 1l bottle.

Edit: I see, you corrected the price 🙂

 

[btgc]

$35 ??? How much old fixer do you have? The fixer I use cost 7 EUR for a 1l bottle.

From your posts I recall you are using Tetenal liquids, their fixer costs about same here.

I've found out Ilford doesn't offer fixer in volumes smaller than 0.5L which I haven't seen anywhere.

 

[user237428934]

From your posts I recall you are using Tetenal liquids, their fixer costs about same here.

I've found out Ilford doesn't offer fixer in volumes smaller than 0.5L which I haven't seen anywhere.

I only have the Tetenal developer but use the Adofix Fixer (smallest bottle = 1l). That's quite cheap but I think it's not available at macodirect. I order at fotoimpex.de

 

[Freakscene]

All that happened because I didn't fill in glass beads to eliminate air in bottle?

The reaction occurs spontaneously to thiosulfate solutions in acid environments. It has nothing to do with oxygen or air. Just pH, time and temperature.

S2O32− (aq) + 2 H+ (aq) → SO2 (g) + S (s) + H2O

Marty

 

[Chris101]

You should be able to tell by (carefully) sniffing the bottle. If the stench makes you pull your head away from the bottle violently, then that is probably exactly what happened. Sulfur dioxide smells bad.

 

[Freakscene]

You should be able to tell by (carefully) sniffing the bottle. If the stench makes you pull your head away from the bottle violently, then that is probably exactly what happened. Sulfur dioxide smells bad.

The sulfur dioxide dissolves and forms sulfurous acid. The smell is not a good indicator of the reaction, although a slight rotten eggs smell may occur.

Filter the fixer and check the clearing time. If the clearing time of the filtered fixer is within 2x the clearing time of fresh fixer, it's okay to use until the clearing time gets to 2x the fresh fixer clearing time or until the silver content gets to 6 g/L for film and 2-3 g/L for archival fibre base paper fixing.

Marty

 

[btgc]

I didn't notice any bad smell (well, if we assume fresh fixer smells like a victory in the morning), no hint of rotten eggs. Just tiny shining flakes. Concentrate seems to be as clear as fresh.

Do this process affects only clearing time without reducing other properties of fixer (which could manifest themselves on processed film/prints after some time) ?

 

[Freakscene]

I didn't notice any bad smell (well, if we assume fresh fixer smells like a victory in the morning), no hint of rotten eggs. Just tiny shining flakes. Concentrate seems to be as clear as fresh.

Do this process affects only clearing time without reducing other properties of fixer (which could manifest themselves on processed film/prints after some time) ?

It just means that the thiosulfate concentration is slightly lower than as manufactured and therefore the fixer will have slightly lower capacity. It shouldn't change the stability of the films/papers fixed with it.

Marty

 

[btgc]

Thanks Marty, I would be better waiting for response like this. I've bought small bottle of fixer and don't like fact now I have two opened bottles.

 

[Freakscene]

Shoot more film! Use it all fast.

Marty