Borax and Boric Acid aren't the same thing? Oopps....

[Grumpyshutter]

Hi everyone.
I've just recently started to make my own solutions out of raw chemicals, and made up a batch of fixer, accidentally using borax instead of boric acid. It seems to have worked, but now I'm worried about archival permanace. Should I re-fix the negs with a proper solution? or should they be ok?
Also, is boric acid essential or will any old acid do (I'm thinking citric or acetic acid)?
The fixer is from Ansel Adams book the negative.
Cheers,
Grumpyshutter

 

[Ian Grant]

Using Borax instaed of Boric acid will affect the pH, the fixer will be more alkaline, however it won't do any harm as it's used in Alkali fixers.

Boric acid isn't like nitric, citric and acetic it's only weakly acidic so you can't use one of these as a substitute

Ian