D76 dregs

Hello,

A few days ago I noticed that there are some dregs in my Kodak D76 developer. Some really dark dregs appeared in my developer aftter 4 - 5 times of using. I allways keep my developer in glass bottles (650ml) and I think that airtightness is ok, but the foundation of the dregs tells another story ... Firstly i thought that the cause of the dregs can be just the over-using of the developer but Kodak homepage says that even 16 times per galon of D76 is ok, so could anyone help me and tell the real cause of the dregs appearance ?

Thanks a lot,

Tatanka

I'm not sure what is meant by 'dregs' in this case...to me, 'dregs' are what is left in the bottom of my coffee cup after I've "finished my coffee". It is that little bit at the end that you don't want to drink for what ever reason.

Perhaps, you are seeing silver falling out of solution? Is the precipitate a medium grey color? This is common when developer is replenished and reused. Eventually, you may aslo see the silver...ah, adhereing to or getting stuck to the bottom of the glass botle.

If this is what you have, it is no really a problem. Just be sure to filter the developer BEFORE using.

It's usually silver. D-76 is a high solvent developer, and silver accumulates. It tends to plate out on various surfaces, especially glass. But the plating is not firm, and you wind up with floating stuff after a while. Usually it doesn't get into the tank, but you can filter the developer it it becomes a hazard.

Developer dregs

I find a sludge at the bottom of both my Kodak D-23 and my modified Ansco 17M (modified with 2x the sodium metaborate and 2/3 of the hydroquinone). After I replenish, using the overflow method, I cap the bottle, and rotate it several times, to mix the replenisher in. Both developers become a veritable "snowstorm" of the black precipitate, but it settles out and I have never had a problem with it getting on film when I develop, partially because I am careful when I decant the developer into a beaker, before pouring it into my developing tank.

You can try filtering the developer; I do that, using the same filters I use to make my coffee. I'm guessing that the sludge might be some kind of sulfite, or it could be as a result of the rather hard water I use to mix my chemistry. I don't know for sure; I'm not a chemist.