BW chemistry not stored in dark, oddity ensues

[Boris Mirkov]

I've had this fixer with developer in my room in transparent bottles and they have been there for about two months. The fixer is now light blue in colour and has a decent amount of residue stuck on the bottle. The developer hasn't changed but seeing this, I got worried about it also. Are they any good now? I will certainly get rid of them but I would like to know. More importantly, in the same place was concentrated R09 One shot, unopened in 125ml bottle for which I am way more concerned.

 

[georg16nik]

Test them with film and it sounds like your fixer need to be filtered.
Depending on whether the developer is concentrate or working solution and the type of developer... your mileage might vary.

 

[gone]

Light, air, and heat will ruin chemicals if there's too much of any of it. Most of us keep our stuff in a cabinet, usually under the sink, to keep light away (if you do that, it doesn't matter if you store things in transparent containers or not). Try not to let things get over 80 F degrees, and for sure keep air away by keeping the bottles topped up. There's lots of ways to do this, but plastic containers that I can squeeze work fine for me. Whether or not your stuff is still good is, as mentioned, dependent on if it tests OK.

When in doubt, throw it out.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

The blue color is probably carryover from dyes in the film. In itself no reason to worry. The sediment in the fixer may be an indication of sulfurization in which case the fixer should be discarded. Do a snip test on the developer to see if it is still active but it probably is OK.

Rodinal substitutes are now shipped in cheap polyethylene bottles. The very worst plastic in which to store them. In future transfer the contents to a glass bottle for better keeping properties.