Fixer question

[ronlamarsh]

I got some free chemistry a while back that included about 5 boxes of kodak rapid fix. I just mixed some today and noticed a yellow cake at the bottom of the container. I have shaken,stirred until it became a mass of of small yellow pebbles (almost sand) diluted with the proper amount of water and the "sand" has yet to completely disolve!
Should i go ahead and use it? Wait for it to all disolve(maybe never) or throw the whole mess away?

 

[Ian Grant]

If you shoot 35mm stick the leader in the fix & see how long it takes to clear. The yellow is sulpur and could mean the fixer has degenerated.

If the leader clears quickly it's OK otherwise ditch it.

Ian

 

[Photo Engineer]

It may leave small particles in the film even if it does fix, and this would degrade your negative images.

PE

 

[ronlamarsh]

Thanks guys i am using it for paper so I'll test it anyway with film.

 

[ronlamarsh]

Fixer

Ok I dumped it after inserting a film leader, which cleared in about 1min., cause io couldn't stand all that yellow crap floating around. I then took another bottle and poured the contents into my tray without agitating it so the yellow cake stayed in the bottle at the bottom. Yes it was sulfur ,by the smell.
So.....how important is the sulfur to the fixer?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Fixer is made of Ammonium or Sodium ThioSulfate. This is a sulfur containing molecule that does the job of removing the silver halide out of the coating. So, sulfur is essential in processing. And it should not be a yellow cake at the bottom of the bottle.

PE

 

[ronlamarsh]

fixer

The participate on the bottom of the bottle isn't much untiul you stir it up of course. I'd say somewhere one mm thick. sounds like this stuf is shot and should just be tossed.

 

[mikebarger]

I've used it like this before, but I ran it through a coffeee filter when pouring into the storage jug after mixing.

Mike