Crystals in wash aid?

[c.w.]

I just went to mix up some fresh hypo clear (I use Silvergrain Clearwash) and it had a bunch of very small crystals in it. They ranged from just sort of a dust to a few that were wafer thin and about 1 square cm. I just used it as normal, any crystals in the small amount i diluted dissolved quickly.

Is that normal? I haven't really stored it specially - it's the second time i've mixed up a batch, it's still in the original bottle, and it's about 3 months old.

Thanks.

 

[Denis K]

Hypo clearing agent is mainly just sodium sulfite in water, sometime with a very small amount of preservative added. I have never used Silvergrain Clearwash but from your comment it sounds like it comes as a concentrated liquid that you dilute. If so, the crystals are probable just a little of the concentrated sulfite recrystallizing. It shouldn't cause any problems so long as it dissolves again when you dilute it to a working strength solution.

 

[c.w.]

Aha. The bottle says potassium sulfite, but i'm guessing what you said happened. Thanks for the information.

 

[fschifano]

I'm guessing that the concentrate is pretty nearly a saturated solution as sold. One a little water evaporates, or the temperature changes, some of the potassium sulfite will come out of solution. Not a big deal in the scheme of things. The only thing I ever use a wash aid for is fiber based papers. RC papers and films just don't need it.