I'd like to add some benzotriazole to my Ansco 130 developer. Is Edwal Orthazite the same as a 2 or 3% solution of benzotriazole or would it be cheaper to dissolve my own in alcohol? Also, I mix 130 1:1 and use the working solution for months at a time with no problems. Will adding benzotriazole to the working solution affect the keeping properties of the developer?
Brian, you're probably better off with another developer, but that being said, lowering the amount of KBr and substituting a certain amount of benzo could give you what you're looking for. You'll have to experiment.
It may cool things, depending on the paper. Cant say about Edwal as I've never used it. I prefer propylene glycol for solutions, but its not as cheap/available.
BZT seems to have more cooling effect on Ansco 130 than most other developers. It's a pretty popular addition. As for mixing up a BZT solution, water works reasonably well. It dissolves fairly easily to make a one percent solution, and with a quite a bit of work to make a two percent solution.
It shouldn't have any effect on keeping. Ansco 130 will keep for a long long time, and so will benzotriazole. But its cooling effect will vary from substantial to minimal depending on your paper.
My preference is a 2% solution, and I often use 10 ml (.2g) per liter of STOCK of Ansco 130, so you'll have to do the math from there depending on how you dilute. That's probab'y a good middling amount from which to start, you can probably get away with somewhat less or more. However I sometimes use phenidone instead of metol so YMMV a bit.