pyrocat HD solution A spider web

[Willie Jan]

Hi,

i made some pyrocat HD in june (brown bottles stored in dark).

When i now look at the solution A, a see some very tiny let's say spider webs in the solution, when i shake it they are gone.
I did some tests with developing film, and those seem to look ok.

Anyone an idea what this could be?

 

[Christopher D. Keth]

I don't know the exact chemicals you're dealing with, but it sounds like bacteria or fungus.

 

[gainer]

It must be a pretty powerful or very specialized organism to live in a concentrated solution of mostly catechol. Something like what you might find 7 miles deep in the ocean at a sulfur dioxide vent.

 

[john_s]

In my experience, depending on the impurities in the chemicals and water, there can be fine insoluble matter which coagulates into "clouds" that fall to near the bottom of the bottle. The remainder of the solution is then quite clear, and I decant it off. The only thing I've seen that looks like spider webs, even slightly, is needle shaped or thin plate-shaped crystals which can grow if the solution was concentrated and then allowed to cool down too much. It can be hard to redissolve them.

 

[Willie Jan]

In my experience, depending on the impurities in the chemicals and water, there can be fine insoluble matter which coagulates into "clouds" that fall to near the bottom of the bottle. The remainder of the solution is then quite clear, and I decant it off. The only thing I've seen that looks like spider webs, even slightly, is needle shaped or thin plate-shaped crystals which can grow if the solution was concentrated and then allowed to cool down too much. It can be hard to redissolve them.

John,
i think you defined it correctly (clouds) that sit on the bottom. when i shake the bottle it is no longer there and the solution seems clear.

I used it to find a develop time for my Fuji across 120 film.
I came at:

film set at 100 asa.
1:1:100
16 minutes.
first minute agitate continiously
after that 1x each 30 seconds.
Zone V = 0.67 + film base fog = 0.77