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Dirty Water from Prints in in Kodak HCA

thefizz

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I have been using Ilford's Wash Aid or just plain sodium sulfite to hypo clear fibre prints for many years without any problems. Recently I purchased a pack of Kodak HCA and noticed the solution turned very dirty looking after the prints had been submerged for a few minutes. Is this normal for Kodak HCA? My water supply has not changed and looks perfectly clean.
 
It was a fresh pack of HCA.
Dirty looking water as in brown.
 
The solution looked fine when mixed but darkened when prints went in.
 
That's odd. Thinking out loud:
1: Something in the prints washes out in the HCA bath, turning it brown.
2: Something in the water itself turns brown.
3: Something in the HCA makes the water turn brown.
AFAIK HCA is really just sodium sulfite, and I don't really see any way in which that would turn brown in solution. Leaving 1 & 2, with #1 being the IMO somewhat more likely cause. Can you describe how you process your prints? What developer do you use? Fresh fixer or reused (does the problem also occur with fresh fix)?
 
It could well be carried-over developer leaching out into the wash aid solution and oxidizing. Especially if you aren't using a stop bath and/or acid fixer. Short processing times (e.g., Ilford) gives the developer little time to neutralize and dissipate into the surrounding solutions.

Best,

Doremus
 
Last edited:

That's a good lead to follow. Best guess I've seen so far.
 
Acid stop for 30 seconds minimum followed by two-bath fixing in Moersch Alkaline fixer which is buffered to protect against significant pH change.
As I mentioned, the hypo clearing bath stays clear when using Ilford Wash Aid or when using sodium sulfite. It's just the Kodak HCA that has produced the dark solution, so maybe it was just a bad batch.
 
thefizz said:
As I mentioned, the hypo clearing bath stays clear when using Ilford Wash Aid or when using sodium sulfite. It's just the Kodak HCA that has produced the dark solution, so maybe it was just a bad batch.
Click to expand...

Well it would sound that way to me, based on what you are telling us

pentaxuser
 
FWIW, based on the MSDS, the Kodak HCA also includes the following components, some iof which I believe are intended to help maintain an appropriate ph level:
 
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