iron in water and wiil it affect my prints?

[Andy Tymon]

iron in water and will it affect my prints?

Hi, I was wondering if the dissolved iron in our well water will have a detremental affect on my prints when washing. I use distilled for film processing and for mixing my chems but washing and toning prints would take up to much bottled water. If we were going to live here permanently I would get a reverse osmosis system, but we are renting short term.
The water is softened and it's not the rusty type of iron but the you can smell it and taste it but not see it type. Anybody else deal with this?

 

[Ian Grant]

Iron can cause problems but usually only when it's not fully dissolved. It can cause problems in fixer, it will bleach out the silver, this usually causes a white/clear spot on the film or paper. It is very unusual.

As long as your water is filtered you'll have no problems.

Ian

 

[BBMOR]

Hy
is the water is softened ,i guess with a softener wich is regenerated with a brine solution ,there is no iron left in the water ,it is on your resin ,this iron if present and it can is bounded to organic material called humic acid ,this can smel ,the water also can be colored from pale yellow to dark yellow ,a RO will not help ,the organic substances will bloc your membrane (costly ) the only way to get it out is using a so called scavenger resin ,wich will adsorb the organics ,this resin can beregenerated as the softenir with a brine solution ,but it is another type

succes resolving your problem

jm

 

[kevs]

Andy,

If you go in for sodium sulphide toning with a ferri bleach, you might get problems with blue spots on finished prints. I've experienced these myself from unfiltered tap water. Best to filter or allow particles to settle, rinse prints before toning and dilute chemicals using bottled water.

An alternative bleach (from Amateur Photography 'Dictionary of Photography' 1961 p 645):

Soln. A:
5 grammes potassium permanganate;
1 Ltr Water

Soln B:
25 ml Hydrochloric acid (no strength listed);
1 Ltr Water

For use, mix 1 part Soln A to 8 parts Soln B. Add more A if bleaching is too slow. Wash until all the pink permanganate has gone, then remove any brown stains in one or two successive baths of dilute potassium metabisulphite, wash in 2 - 3 changes of water, then darken in sulphide as normal. This will also bleach a previously sulphide-toned print, that can then be re-developed in developer. I've never tried it myself, so I can't vouch for its effectiveness.

 

[Andy Tymon]

Hi Ian, Jm and Kevin,
thanks for your responses. The water quality seems to have improved significantly since I posted! I guess I need to print after the water softener has regenerated itself and change the carbon filter. I re-washed a print yesterday and let it dry and it didn't turn rusty which was my biggest fear. Thanks for the alternate bleach recipe kevin, I have put it in my formula book for futre reference.
Thanks again gentlemen for your input