30ml (or so) storage bottle source in Australia

Kevin Caulfield · Feb 23, 2006

Hi all. Just wondering if anybody knows of a good source for 30ml (or so) storage bottles in Australia. I use Paterson FX39 developer which doesn't have a huge life once opened, so I'm thinking of decanting into smaller bottles. Ideally they would be glass. Thanks.

PeterB · Feb 23, 2006

Kevin Caulfield said:
Hi all. Just wondering if anybody knows of a good source for 30ml (or so) storage bottles in Australia. I use Paterson FX39 developer which doesn't have a huge life once opened, so I'm thinking of decanting into smaller bottles. Ideally they would be glass. Thanks.

Hi Kevin,
try out The Bottle People
http://www.bottlepeople.com.au/CatalogueCat.aspx?Deptbp_ID=10&Cat_ID=32
I've used them before. be aware that there are minimum order quantities, so if you only want 1 or 2 just ask them for a sample, or ask where they distribute the particular one you are after.
regards
Peter

blokeman · Feb 23, 2006

30 ml (or so) storage bottle in Australia

G'day Kevin! Hope thats not a misprint and IS 30 ml & not 300... anyway, I get all my small brown glass bottles for a very reasonable price from one of those Essential Oils shops. There is one called AUROMA in Burwood Rd just near the corner of Power St a few hundred metres south of the Yarra river. It's probably defined as Hawthorn.
They also have eye droppers of good quality ... I like to use these in my 100ml gold chloride bottle. They have lots of sizes too (well, last time I was there a few months ago).

Dave Miller · Feb 23, 2006

Whilst I agree that it is best to keep developer in full glass bottles, I find it also keeps well if the air in the bottle is replaced with gas. Something that has been discussed in a couple of threads recently.

dancqu · Feb 23, 2006

Dave Miller said:
Whilst I agree that it is best to keep developer
in full glass bottles, ...

Then there is the convenience. A small bottle of
this or that + water to make. Rinse bottle and
cap and done. Dan

Jim Jones · Feb 23, 2006

A 35mm film cannister holds about 37ml. Getting the last bit of air out might be a trick, though. Perhaps you could fill the cannister with a hypodermic needle through the top, and then seal the needle hole.

Kevin Caulfield · Jun 7, 2006

Sorry for my late response, but thanks all for your suggestions. Blokeman, I just called Auroma, and they do have quite a range of sizes and at very reasonable prices, so I will go over there and have a squiz.

vet173 · Jun 8, 2006

I went to the drug store to ask the pharmacy about buying a couple of the brown bottles they put prescriptions in. She gave me two 50ml bottles for free.

dogzbum · Jun 8, 2006

Best thing since sliced bread is Baby Panadol bottles. They come on 50 or 100 mL sizes and are made of brown glass with child-proof tops. Great for light sensitive alt process chemicals too.
With two kids under four I have lots of these and even more empty adult Panadol bottles.

Kevin Caulfield · Jun 13, 2006

Thanks, Dogz. I agree about the Baby Panadol bottles. The syringe supplied is also potentially very useful too. Price is a bit of a bugger though. I have an 11 month old, and just one bottle of Baby P at the moment, so it would take a while and a lot of money to build up a big supply. I bought lots of bottles from Auroma on the weekend, and am very happy with the price. I have built two storage racks for them, I suppose something between a spice rack and a test tube rack.

Graeme Hird · Jun 13, 2006

G'day Kevin,

I'd fill up some film canisters, put a marble in each one to remove the surplus air and freeze each one. Once frozen, the oxidation of the chemical should slow considerably.

Of course, you'll need to isolate the canitsters from the rest of the food in your freezer (lunch box?), or pop em in your beer fridge. Just don't offer to put ice in your guests' drinks!

Cheers,
Graeme

Kevin Caulfield · Jun 13, 2006

Thanks for the idea, Graeme. I would agree that feezing should slow oxidation. That may be overkill for what I need though. All I'm really after is the same life for the little bottles as for the parent bottle, so maybe 1 or 2 years if I'm lucky. My beer fridge is also the photography fridge, so there is a very real risk of making that mix-up for friends' drinks.

Roger Hicks · Jun 13, 2006

Dear Kevin,

Just yesterday I was doing exactly the same thing, decanting FX39 into smaller bottles.

I always get mine from the chemist/drugstore/pharmacy (sorry, don't know the Australian English for this one). The days when they would give them to you are gone but they're not expensive and they last for a long time.

Caps are sold separately. The non-childproof ones are cheaper and more convenient.

I sometimes decant 250 ml into one bottle and the rest into small ones, then when the small ones are empty, from the 250 to the small ones again.

One more point is that these bottles are often around 10% bigger than their nominal capacity, presumably because only photographers fill them to the brim.

Some chemicals freeze OK but others don't; the soluble ingredients crystallise out and don't re-diissolve. I'd be EXTREMELY wary of freezing any chemicals unless I checked directly with the manufacturers (NOT the dealer).

Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com)

Kevin Caulfield · Jun 13, 2006

Roger Hicks said:
I always get mine from the chemist/drugstore/pharmacy (sorry, don't know the Australian English for this one). The days when they would give them to you are gone but they're not expensive and they last for a long time.Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com)

The Australian English is usually "chemist", but as I am a chemist and not a pharmacist, I prefer "pharmacist". Actually, as I am a chemist I should know more about what would happen to developers when they are frozen.

It's good to see somebody else using FX39. I started using it about four or five years ago when Practical Photography ran a comparison of several different developers.

30ml (or so) storage bottle source in Australia

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