Fixer Questions

Hey Gang,

I recently mixed up some new fixer and have noticed something strange happening since I mixed it all up. I have no problems fixing it clears the film well (plus I have only fixed 6 rolls of film with it; 3x35mm and 3x120) but it is staining my clear bottle grey that I use to store it with. I can only assume this is residual silver but the thing I don't understand is that this has never happened to me before. The only thing I have changed with this chemistry is my film brands. I previously only used Foma 100 and now have been primarily shooting Delta 100. Is the silver content of Delta 100 that much higher? Also it is starting to leave behind floating crap in my fixer which finds its way onto the emulsion side of my negatives and leaves spots for me to touch up. They end up as white spots on the prints and scans and you can even see some of the black spots on the Negatives.

I have tried to remove some of the spots using a little isopropyl alcohol to remove the gunk but to no avail.


Thanks in advance,
~Mike

Anything? This made it to the second page in two days.

~M

Mike, it could be too much silverbromide from the previous films you developed.
It is best to dispose the remaining fixer and make a new one, following the instructions from the factory.
Take care to clean out very carefully all containers before putting the new fixer in it, make sure the water is clean and store it in a cool place.
Before you start using the new fixer, take a short piece of undeveloped film, could be a piece of the leader, and put it in a bowl with your newly made fixer. Carefully note the amount of seconds it takes to make that piece of film completly blank, so you could look through it.
Write it down on a piece of paper and tape it on the container of your newly made fixer.
Every time before you are going to develop a batch of films, you do the fixer test again, take note of the time.
After a while the fixer needs more time to make that little piece of film completly blank.
When the time is twice as much than it was on the first time you made the test, it is time to dispose the fixer and make a new one.

Best regards,
LCEL.