can I buy just stop-bath indicator dye?

If you use white vinegar you will pay more than you will for even the most expensive citric acid indicator stop bath. It's not exactly expensive, but it's a lot more per ounce of working strength than you'll pay for a bottle of concentrate.

Roger Cole said:

If you use white vinegar you will pay more than you will for even the most expensive citric acid indicator stop bath. It's not exactly expensive, but it's a lot more per ounce of working strength than you'll pay for a bottle of concentrate.

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That's a good point. Everyone will have to make their own calculations. The last time I bought white vinegar it was from a big box store and was quite reasonable. But when you need stop bath it's good to know that you can always get some when everything else is closed.

Roger, the Sulfite in your effluent has a high COD/BOD which renders it a pollutant that is not needed unless you are quite water shy in your area. Therefore it is a tradeoff. However, no wash aid is needed. Just remember, we have prints (I do myself) from the early part of the last century and they are quite fine in spite of the fact that there was no wash aid in existence back then!

PE

Ken Nadvornick said:

Stop bath using only acetic barely smells, and is not dangerous. The vinegar in one's salad dressing is about twice the concentration of the same thing. And one routinely eats that.

(Unless, of course, a proper Italian is available...)

Ken

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Then you eat the proper Italian? That's cannibalism!