Freestyle agreed to send me a new 1litter E-6 kit. It got here yesterday, The blix part 2 bottle looks very much the same as in my previous post. I don't get it. Freestyle is a reliable source right ? Am I seeing this wrong ?
look at my previoust post here :
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
That's definitely not right. I took a few pictures of the blix part 2 bottle from my kit, it should be liquid with no deposits. I've ordered it a few times from Freestyle and haven't had this issue. Although, with my first tetanal kit the blix part 2 was the first to go bad (looked like your pictures) but that was after I had it opened for several months.
Sadly, Tetenal's BX2 has a serious shelf life problem, and Freestyle may have some old inventory of this product. Not good. I'd say contact them and ask for an explanation. The good thing is that BX2 is always the first component to go bad, and since it goes bad in a very visible fashion, you can be reasonably sure that the other parts are good as long as BX2 looks good.
i mixed uo mine a while ago so i can't remember. but have you tried it? heating up the liquid will sometimes fix the crystallization problem. if you dont want to try it with film, just heat the blix part to 105 and check out when it cools down to 100. or cut a roll in half and give it a try.
The problem is the formula of BX2: mostly Ammonium Thiosulfate and Acetic Acid. The pH of this soup is just high enough so that it doesn't sulfur out right away, but with some time and oxygen pH will drop further. Even if heating converts some Sulfur and Sulfite back into Thiosulfate, you will never know whether all Sulfur has been converted, and you may end up with colloidal Sulfur in your film.
The easiest solution to lhalcong's problem is contacting Freestyle and demanding a replacement kit which hasn't spent years on the shelves. If that doesn't work out for whatever reason, he can get KBr from Formulary and make a bleach from BX1 and KBr. Formulary also has TF-5 which works as fixer for color processes.
How much more real can it get? Get KBr from Formulary and be done with it. Remember, though, that E6 CD will go bad within the next few months, so plan on using your kit soon.
Unlike you really enjoy home brewing, I would push this issue with Freestyle first.