Mould/fungus growth on odourless fixer

koraks · Mar 15, 2024

john_s said:
Would the presence of borate in fixer prevent mould?

It wouldn't surprise me. It's also possible they add another 'secret' ingredient that's present in too low a quantity and/or that's not toxic enough to be included in the safety datasheet.

Fatih Ayoglu · Mar 15, 2024

Can I add Borate safely into the fixer? I mean no explosion, no toxic gas or anything?

koraks · Mar 15, 2024

You could, and it shouldn't do any harm. IIRC it's present in fixer mostly to prevent dichroic fog when no stop bath is used. If it really helps with the fungus...I dunno. I'd sooner put a few drops of formalin in there to deal with that.

Fatih Ayoglu · Mar 15, 2024

Ok would formalin cause any issue?

mshchem · Mar 15, 2024

Boric acid is noted in the old Kodak books as a factor in the nasty smell of sulfur dioxide. This substituted with Kodalk, but these are old acid hardening sodium thiosulfate formulas. Not rapid fixer like modern Ilford acid fixer.

koraks · Mar 16, 2024

mshchem said:
Boric acid is noted in the old Kodak books as a factor in the nasty smell of sulfur dioxide.

This surprises me; it doesn't seem acidic enough to cause such problems.

Fatih Ayoglu said:
Ok would formalin cause any issue?

Not really, at least not if you limit the addition to a few drops. In large quantities it's nasty.

Rudeofus · Mar 16, 2024

john_s said:
That reminds me. There is a thread here at photrio somewhere where someone who mixes his own fixer has stated that it keeps better if it has been used even a little because of the silver being a biocide. To the OP, have you noticed the mould in fixer that has been used?

It sounds like this was me. I mixed neutral fixer, which was then not used for one or two months, and it grew slimy mold/fungus. That same thing never happened to fixer which was used before.

Therefore the cheapest chem one can add to a fixer tank is a few sheets of long expired photographic paper.

john_s · Mar 16, 2024

Rudeofus said:
It sounds like this was me. I mixed neutral fixer, which was then not used for one or two months, and it grew slimy mold/fungus. That same thing never happened to fixer which was used before.

Therefore the cheapest chem one can add to a fixer tank is a few sheets of long expired photographic paper.

But the OP did say that the fixer had been used.

About the possible use of borax/borates, I looked at the MSDS docs for Fotospeed Odourless Fixer that came up quickly and the older one did not mention borax but two more recent ones did mention borax, so that's the end of my theory I guess.

Fatih Ayoglu · Mar 16, 2024

Yes, odourless fixer is used multiple times with Ilford FB papers and Ilford Rapid one is used multiple times with RC papers.

The reason I have separate fixers is, for some reason my FB papers came out stained from the Ilford fixer, probably it is dirty.

john_s · Mar 16, 2024

Fatih Ayoglu said:
Yes, odourless fixer is used multiple times with Ilford FB papers and Ilford Rapid one is used multiple times with RC papers.

The reason I have separate fixers is, for some reason my FB papers came out stained from the Ilford fixer, probably it is dirty.

Ilford fixer normally doesn't stain. Do you use a stop bath? I used to use running water and got some staining. Presumably my rinse wasn't long enough (not that I want to start a war about stop bath). Now I use a stop bath and I get no staining.

Maybe your Ilford fixer is over used. If you want your prints to last it might be a good idea to do some reading about the capacity of fixer.

Fatih Ayoglu · Mar 16, 2024

Probably.

I’ve mixed a new Dev, Stop and Fix. The mould fix is still good based on film clip test.

Best to start fresh

john_s · Mar 16, 2024

Fatih Ayoglu said:
Probably.

I’ve mixed a new Dev, Stop and Fix. The mould fix is still good based on film clip test.

Best to start fresh

One test of fixer is clearing film. But for paper, silver buildup is the limiting factor, which is why people use two-bath fixing.

Fatih Ayoglu · Mar 16, 2024

Yes that’s what I’ll do as well, now that I have 2 fresh fixer (well one is very fresh, the other one had 4-5 FB papers through it)

I was planning to ask about replenishing fixer but I guess the consensus is two-bath fixer, while replenishing developer is fine (I use slot processor)

And once this odourless fixer is done, I’ll move to standard rapid fixer. That is faster, has more capacity, so more economical as well.

Mould/fungus growth on odourless fixer

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Mould/fungus growth on odourless fixer

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