Kodafix dead from the start

Has anyone mixed up a batch of fixer only to have it be dead on arrival? I just mixed a bottle of Kodafix (close to but not yet expired) and put my first two rolls through it. All chemicals are new: X-Tol, Stop Bath, Hypo, etc. The negs came out with a yellow-ish fogging. A buddy sent me a link that suggested that the film wasn't properly fixed. Just to prove him wrong, I put a drop of hypo-check in the fixer: Instant white precipitate. What the hell?

There is a chance that the bottle was left in our hot garage during a move. I can't remember if my chemicals sat in a warm garage for any amount of weeks or months. This might have contributed.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

Update: It showed Hypocheck precipitate in the fixer used on the film. The fixer in the bottle did not precipitate. (But still: this was new fixer before it hit the film. It should not be expended after one use.)

Hi,

welcome to APUG .

Please make photo of this negative, so that we can see exactly. Try to refix the negative with another fixer - buy new bottle of some other brand like Ilford (just to be 100% sure).

Regards,

It kinda happened to me years ago : my Kodak fixer died on "mid-way" that at 50% of the capacity of the product. My batch of negs looked brownish and spotty.
I refixed them (with HYPAM!!!!) and everything went smoothly.

Never touched Kodak fixer again.

Is this about this Kodafix? If yes, this is an acidic hardening fixer and the concentrate won't last all that long. For modern film stock you don't need a hardening fixer, so do yourself a favor and use a standard rapid fixer instead.

Hot storage is not good. For any of the liquid chemicals.

I only store dry powder in sealed containers it is easy to make up acid hypo from powder or other things like HCA or ID11 or stop etc. I allways label with mix date and usage.

Cept for Rodinal.

Re fix ASAP.

gfeucht said:

Update: It showed Hypocheck precipitate in the fixer used on the film. The fixer in the bottle did not precipitate. (But still: this was new fixer before it hit the film. It should not be expended after one use.)

Click to expand...

To rule out an error in dilution, try re-doing the dilution and see. What dilution are you using for the film?

I'm using X-Tol 1:1. The density on the neg is fine. It's just the fixing that's the problem. I've never had this before, so I'm just going to dump it and make a fresh batch with new concentrate. Maybe ilford this time.

Thanks!

gfeucht said:

I'm using X-Tol 1:1. The density on the neg is fine. It's just the fixing that's the problem. I've never had this before, so I'm just going to dump it and make a fresh batch with new concentrate. Maybe ilford this time.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

ic-racer was referring to the dilution you used when you mixed up the working strength fixer. What was your intended dilution?
Was their any precipitate at the bottom of the bottle?
Does the concentrate smell of sulfur?