Alkaline fixer from hypam

ruilourosa · Feb 12, 2022

What would be the best alkali to alkalinizing Hypam

i am using borax but then the fixer has a tendency to precipitate/plate silver onto the plastic container...

thanks!!!!!

koraks · Feb 12, 2022

Plain old sodium carbonate should do just fine and is cheaper than borax.
To prevent silver plating just don't store used fixer for extended periods of time...
Fixer is cheap enough not to be too fussy with it.

Lachlan Young · Feb 12, 2022

The best way is to buy yourself some C-41 fixer and use that instead.

RalphLambrecht · Feb 12, 2022

koraks said:
Plain old sodium carbonate should do just fine and is cheaper than borax.
To prevent silver plating just don't store used fixer for extended periods of time...
Fixer is cheap enough not to be too fussy with it.

You can also mix alkaline fixer from bulk chemicals. recipes are available.

ruilourosa · Feb 12, 2022

thanks!
probably my issue is log term storage...

and yes i can mix but i do not have easy acess to ammonium thiosulfate... i used to add ammonium cloride to tf2 fixer to make it a rapid fixer... but in the end hypam is convenient..

Lachlan Young · Feb 12, 2022

Unless you need the hardener compatibility of Hypam, get something near neutral instead - Tetenal Superfix Odourless is another option if you don't want to deal with the larger quantities of C-41 fix.

You really don't need an alkaline fix for silver gelatin materials.

Nikola Dulgiarov · Feb 12, 2022

ruilourosa said:
thanks!
probably my issue is log term storage...

and yes i can mix but i do not have easy acess to ammonium thiosulfate... i used to add ammonium cloride to tf2 fixer to make it a rapid fixer... but in the end hypam is convenient..

Hypam is more buffered and I think about 0.5 pH units more acidic than Ilford Rapid Fix. Both can be converted to a neutral fix by adding aqueous ammonia (aka ammonium hydroxide) to the concentrate. I think ammonia should be available universally as either a 10% or a 25-30% solution from a pharmacy or hardware store, use the most concentrated product available. This avoids adding unnecessary metal ions to the solution just to change the pH, and since ammonia has a low molar mass, you need less of it to reach neutrality.

I would make a test using 100 ml of fixer concentrate and add portions of ammonia until the solution stops smelling like acetic acid, vinegar. There is a point where the fixer is practically odorless, and this happens around pH 6.5. I would stop there, as the fixer is at an optimal pH for fixation and washing, should preserve pyro staining reasonably well, and is as nice to work with as possible smell-wise. Note the volume of ammonia solution needed and scale for larger amounts. The concentrate will increase in volume, so adjust your final dilutions.

Note that ammonia solution is a strong base and has a potent odor. Work with gloves and ventilation at a minimum. The neutralization releases heat, so add it slowly and in portions.

Philippe-Georges · Feb 14, 2022

Lachlan Young said:
The best way is to buy yourself some C-41 fixer and use that instead.

This is the best answer!
Fuji-Hunt Unilec is what you need.

ruilourosa · Feb 14, 2022

I am aware of c41 fixers, but i have hypam... Liters of them...

RalphLambrecht · Feb 14, 2022

You really don't need an alkaline fix for silver gelatin materials.[/QUOTE said:
You do but it washes out much quicker.

Lachlan Young · Feb 14, 2022

ruilourosa said:
I am aware of c41 fixers, but i have hypam... Liters of them...

In that case, just use it & stop worrying about the pH - and if you're allowing people to inject metaphysical doubt about staining developers, ignore them. In fact, most staining developers are often poorly designed & amateurish substitutes for properly formulated developers, but that's a different matter

ruilourosa · Feb 14, 2022

Im not worried about stain, just keeping the washing times on order! Acidic smell reduction is also a plus.
With borax the smell reduction is very good.
Yesterday i tryed carbonate and its worked very well also.

I also notest a faster clearing time than with regular hypam.

With catechol i did not had stain reduction with 1+4 hypam. Pyro is a different matter.

I usually use non staining devs...

Doremus Scudder · Feb 15, 2022

I use Hypam all the time with staining developers and have zero problems. Same with printing. No odor to speak of (the ammonia smell of many alkaline fixers is much more objectionable IM-HO).

Sure, you need to wash your fiber-base prints longer and use a wash aid before washing, but, if you've got liters and liters, just use it. For film, there's no need to even worry about the pH of your fixer, just wash adequately.

If you really need to make Hypam more neutral, adding a bit of ammonia should do the trick, but you need to test capacity and have a pH meter or a lot of litmus paper strips to make sure you get things right. Hypam is formulated to work well as-is. I'd just use it up and switch to a different fixer later if you really want to change.

Best,

Doremus

ruilourosa · Feb 15, 2022

Thanks but no.

Alkaline fixer from hypam

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