Chemical life after mixing?

[tossik]

how long can i keep my mixed chemicals after i mixed them and have hen in developing trays?

and what should i use dektol or d 76?

 

[Ian Grant]

Chemical life varies depending on the formulae used.

In general MQ developers have a much shorter tray life than PQ developers.

Dektol is a print developer, whereas D76 is a standard film derveloper.

Ian

 

[Monophoto]

You will likely get a wide variety of answers to these very broad questions.

I generally use developers as one-shot, disposing of them after use.
I use fixers until they are exhausted.
Stop baths are cheap and I use them as one-shot.
Hypoclear is a one shot.
Photoflo is basically cheap and ideally is a one-shot. But it should be diluted with either distilled, or at least highly filtered water, and since that water is more expensive that the Photoflo itself, I choose to save it for reuse.
I reuse toners until they are exhausted.

Your second question doesn't make a lot of sense - Dektol is a paper developer, while D-76 is a film developer. So you should use the one that is appropriate to what you are doing.

 

[panastasia]

You're asking a simple question and are most likely looking for a simple answer, so here is one: unused developers in working solution should keep for a couple of months in full bottles, in open trays, only a few hours. They oxidize (turn brown) and become weak depending on how much paper or film you run through them. It's a combination of factors.

The weak developers will still work to some degree but you won't be getting consistent results. This becomes frustrating, and you'll waste paper that will cost more than a little bit of developer. Think about saving paper instead of developer and you'll enjoy the experience longer.

Louie gave you a good general summary for the entire process.

Paul