newbie questions on Kodak F-24

hello everyone

I bought some sodium thiosulphate and sodium sulphite the other day, trying to mix some Kodak F-24, as an entry point to making my own chemistry

The first batch I mixed was fizzy and smelled really strong, i can't really say what the smell was, but it was so strong i thought my nose would bleed!
It didn't fix film at all.

So I figured the lady at the chemistry store must have labeled the two bags wrongly. I mixed a second batch and indeed it did fix film, but only slightly. It took about 3 hours for a piece of film to go completely transparent, which is a lot based on what i've read about kodak f-24

I used citric acid as per the information here http://real-photographs.co.uk/?page_id=225 (it's a direct quote of the The Darkroom's recipe), don't know if it's valid though

I am still not sure my chemicals are what they are supposed to be. The store i bought them from is known for its photography related chem supply. The sodium sulphite solution leaves a terrible salt stain everywhere it spills, is that normal? Never seen that with commercial fixers. I also tried fixing a piece of film with some hypo + water (small amount of both), the film was slightly more clear after half an hour.

Do these salts go bad or something - and was I given old chemistry? should i return them, or maybe i should buy some ammonium chloride and normal baking soda and make OF-1 (there was a url link here which no longer exists). Or call it quits and buy some ready made fixer.

All help greatly appreciated!