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Cheap Storeage Bottles

seawolf66

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Dark bottles for storeage of chemicals , can be a added expense to set-ing up ones dark room, even only a half darkroom for film processing only! What I did was get a can of Plastic paint spray and proceded to spray Power- aid btls black for my chemical storeage : The plastic btls are left over after you drink the contents and the paint for a large spray can of black 3.97 : so my cost is about 30-40 cents per bottle ?

A lot better than paying $3.00 to 5.00 per bottle !

just my two cents to help save money and recycle plastic btls!

So if some one is just starting out this is one way to save money:
 
I buy 1000ml and 500 ml bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide (brown #2) for under $1.00 a piece. A little piece of saran rap under the lid and you're golden for cheap...
 
I've also done the spray-paint trick; however, it's got some serious drawbacks. Over time, the paint will flake away, which both reduces its effectiveness and poses a risk of contamination of the bottles' contents, particularly if you paint close up to the lip of the bottle. I think that wrapping paper, tape, or aluminum foil around a bottle would be a safer method of darkening a clear bottle.

For cheap dark 1-liter glass bottles, consider IBC Root Beer bottles; these are dark brown in color and cost only whatever the current price for the root beer is, and you get the root beer to boot, if you like it.
 
clear bottles kept in the dark?

I use amber glass for developers, usually because they are for sale at the essential oil suppliers that I buy stuff from to also make my soaps (another hobby). In my past I have used glass popo bottles with saran wrap lids - and kept them in the dark 99% of the time cupboard in the kitchen, and later, the darkroo once I built one.
 
I asked my pharmacist about dark bottles. She sold me 500ml plastic bottles for less than a dollar each. They have ml scales on the sides too. I keep dektol in them, 250ml + 500ml water works for an 8X10 tray.
 
A clear bottle stored in the dark is as good as a dark bottle. My diluted T-Max developer lasts up to a year in soft drink bottles stored in black plastic photo paper envelopes.
 
Look in your laundry room.

There you will find many dark "bottles" - most of them plastic.

If you do not have a laundry room - go to your supermarket. Housebrand bleach is usually about 69 cents a gallon and often comes in brown plastic bottles. Most laundry detergents (e.g. Wisk) come in colored bottles with a measuring strip along the handle side.

If worse comes to worse - buy some cheap beer (or better stuff if you want to drink it) in quart (or even 40 oz.) bottles.

Seems like folks in this "throw away" society do not see the "values" around them!

EDIT: Just remember, always "re-label" your re-used bottles with the contents! We've had these thread before and we're about to get the horror stories from the "Net Nannies" about how someone almost sucked down a bottle of fixer thinking it was a bottle of Bud!
 
Go to your local church and ask them to save the glass bottles that held the sacrament wine. I got 10 x 1 gallon, dark green wine bottles with nice screw caps. Of course, check first to be sure they use the colored bottles...

I figure, with my photographic skills, I need all the divine inspiration that might be residue in the glass...

Of course, you could just take up drinking and cut out the middle man. Probably cheaper that photography...
 
Last edited by a moderator:

This makes me ask: "What ever happened to modafoto and the Church of Rodinal?"

I hope he is well.

Matt
 
I have used the Delta Datatainer bottles. They are really great as they have spaces to write and erase info on. I was given a few vintage ones with my darkroom set up and I have bought a few that I plan to never have to replace. They are great bottles and are worth $3.99/gallon bottle.
 
Colored or Colorless ---

Colored or Colorless, to suit me it must be clear.
See the chemistry in the bottle and the bottle
clean after wash.

Amber glass Boston Rounds are my choice.
They are not expensive. Much used for
chemical storage. Narrow and wide
mouth and a choice of caps. Dan
 
With the obligatory caution of using any common food/drink bottle when small kids are in the house, I like bottles that held carbonated liquids. The caps tend to be more air tight. I use them for working solutions.

But since plastic does tend to be more air permeable (even if holding liquids), I prefer glass for working solutions. I still have some that I got from pharmacies a while back but I don't know if they still get anything in glass anymore nor whether (for liability reasons) they give them away.
 
Actually, I'm using plastic soda pop bottles for almost everything these days. I don't have a problem with gas permeability, and they won't shatter into sharp little shards if you drop one. Trust me, you will. Since I keep all that stuff in the darkroom, the color of the bottle doesn't matter. They're in the dark anyway, so what does it matter? Can't do that? Put the bottles in a box and close the lid.
 
Why do people think the bottles need to be dark? Is this based on any fact at all, or just FUD?
 
BetterSense said:
Why do people think the bottles need to be dark? Is this based on any fact at all, or just FUD?
Click to expand...

*******
First of all, what is FUD? Secondly, I always heard it thusly: "They say" that clear glass has an alkalinity that can leach into the contents of the bottle; whilst dark glass bottles do not.
 
I need heavy duty one gallon plastic bottles to store and then carry spent fixer to the silver reclaiming process at school, half hour drive away. The semi clear jugs windshield washer antifreeze comes in are quite strong. Four fit in an empty cardboard carton that a dozen quarts of motor oil come in. I use a wheeled luggage carrier to get them from the parking lot into school. Everything in the process is reusable.

John Powers
 
fotch said:
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
Click to expand...

To expand, the story goes something like this:

In the 60s and 70s, IBM was rarely the leader from a technical standpoint. They succeeded in marketing because, as the market leader, they could succeed by spreading "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" about competitors, particularly upstarts. A parallel saying was "no one was ever fired for choosing IBM".

With few exceptions, this basically held during the big mainframe era, but effectively ended when companies like HP, Sun, and DEC became prominent in the "mini computer" era (notwithstanding the fact that DEC is no more).
 
Cheap Storage Bottles

My favorite bottles for developers are Grolsch swing top beer bottles. They are dark green in color and keep the air out. The beer is pretty good too. If the gaskets get too old you can get new ones from a brewing supply company. The labels shoud be soaked off and the bottles should be clearly labeled so no one mistakes D-76 for Grolsch.
 
dynachrome said:
the bottles should be clearly labeled so no one mistakes D-76 for Grolsch.
Click to expand...
More seriously, you could mistake the Grolsch for D76.

I seem to remember from my lab days (not photo lab) that some chemical solutions were kept in dark bottles because they were photo-sensitive and could change composition when subjected to too much light. Nothing, as far as I'm aware, to do with any risk of alkali leeching out of clear bottles.
 
Jim Jones said:
A clear bottle stored in the dark is as good as a dark bottle. My diluted T-Max developer lasts up to a year in soft drink bottles stored in black plastic photo paper envelopes.
Click to expand...

Agreed, My chemistry is stored in the darkroom which is dark 95% of the time..EC
 
BetterSense said:
Why do people think the bottles need to be dark? Is this based on any fact at all, or just FUD?
Click to expand...

I think it may have been the case at one time, that some chemicals may have needed dark bottles. It then became tradition that certain chemistries were stored in dark bottles. I don't know if it's the case anymore, as you get companies like Ilford that put all their chemical concentrates in white plastic bottles that are certainly not dark storage.

What may be a more practical reason for different colour bottles is so you don't mix them up. For example if your film developer is in a dark green bottle and your print developer is a brown bottle, and your stop is in an amber bottle and your fixer in a clear bottle, it's a lot harder to mix them up. Although you could accomplish the same thing with some colour electrical tape, picking a different colour for each solution.
 
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