I know these topics have come up in the past on various threads with a lot of a scattered yet helpful insight - but some dating back over a decade ago - and after doing as much digging as I could in the archives on here to try to find some answers, I figured I’d make a fresh new thread to gain some fresh new perspective.
I’m in need of some help here and this is mainly a two part inquiry regarding Kodak Ektacokor RA/RT chemistry mixing and preservation for long periods of time.
As many of you know, it’s been a little hard sourcing the chemistry in recent days and I was fortunate enough to find both the Ektacolor RA Developer Replenisher RT and the Ektacolor Bleach-Fix & Replenisher RT - but both being in very large quantities (see attached). My end goal here is to pre-mix both of these concentrates into 5 Gal. Doran tanks w/ floating lids to then use w/ my Fujimoto CP-31 over time & keeping the rest of the concentrates out of the original packaging & into large amber glass bottles to hopefully preserve for as long as possible.
This leads me to Part I:
When researching to find the formulas to mix up the concentrates, I’m either getting extremely large yielding formulas, they’re including Starters or Additives (that I don’t have because I couldn’t find them anywhere), or I’m getting something extremely small like to yield only 1 L. (for example).
I did some math (disclaimer: I’m not very good at it but tried my best) and my question is the part at the end where you add additional water to finish off the mixing level and I’m solving for yielding 5 Gal., do I just do the math for the initial water base plus the 3 part concentrates (A, B, & C) then just add the rest of the water to reach the 5 gallon level at the end? Here’s what that formula looks like (for the Developer) after taking a swing at it:
DEVELOPER (to yield 5 Gal.)
Water (Base) = 15.14 L.
Part A = .956 L.
Part B = .420 L.
Part C = .956 L.
Water (Top-Off) = 1.473 L.
Does this seem right? If so, the same rules apply for the Bleach-Fix as well, correct?
And now for Part II:
Some people have sworn by premixing all of your concentrate and storing in specific plastics or dark glass bottles, others have had success by keeping it in the original packaging in introducing inert gas or glass marbles for any levels of oxygen that come inside of the packaging, and some have said no matter what you can only squeeze 6-8 weeks max regardless of your plan of attack.
Due to very limited storage space with my current living situation, pre-mixing all concentrates to then store is out of the question so I will have to opt for preserving the concentrates and mixing into 5 gallon tanks as needed. Will my plan of storing the concentrates in large amber glass jugs and introducing inert gas when the levels reach below the cap line be enough to store this stuff for long periods of time? If so, what would be a hypothetical life expectancy for this method?
Thanks in advance, im obviously new to this & don’t want to blow it when mixing for 5 Gal. & being out lots of money & wasting chemistry that’s become so hard to come by.
I’m in need of some help here and this is mainly a two part inquiry regarding Kodak Ektacokor RA/RT chemistry mixing and preservation for long periods of time.
As many of you know, it’s been a little hard sourcing the chemistry in recent days and I was fortunate enough to find both the Ektacolor RA Developer Replenisher RT and the Ektacolor Bleach-Fix & Replenisher RT - but both being in very large quantities (see attached). My end goal here is to pre-mix both of these concentrates into 5 Gal. Doran tanks w/ floating lids to then use w/ my Fujimoto CP-31 over time & keeping the rest of the concentrates out of the original packaging & into large amber glass bottles to hopefully preserve for as long as possible.
This leads me to Part I:
When researching to find the formulas to mix up the concentrates, I’m either getting extremely large yielding formulas, they’re including Starters or Additives (that I don’t have because I couldn’t find them anywhere), or I’m getting something extremely small like to yield only 1 L. (for example).
I did some math (disclaimer: I’m not very good at it but tried my best) and my question is the part at the end where you add additional water to finish off the mixing level and I’m solving for yielding 5 Gal., do I just do the math for the initial water base plus the 3 part concentrates (A, B, & C) then just add the rest of the water to reach the 5 gallon level at the end? Here’s what that formula looks like (for the Developer) after taking a swing at it:
DEVELOPER (to yield 5 Gal.)
Water (Base) = 15.14 L.
Part A = .956 L.
Part B = .420 L.
Part C = .956 L.
Water (Top-Off) = 1.473 L.
Does this seem right? If so, the same rules apply for the Bleach-Fix as well, correct?
And now for Part II:
Some people have sworn by premixing all of your concentrate and storing in specific plastics or dark glass bottles, others have had success by keeping it in the original packaging in introducing inert gas or glass marbles for any levels of oxygen that come inside of the packaging, and some have said no matter what you can only squeeze 6-8 weeks max regardless of your plan of attack.
Due to very limited storage space with my current living situation, pre-mixing all concentrates to then store is out of the question so I will have to opt for preserving the concentrates and mixing into 5 gallon tanks as needed. Will my plan of storing the concentrates in large amber glass jugs and introducing inert gas when the levels reach below the cap line be enough to store this stuff for long periods of time? If so, what would be a hypothetical life expectancy for this method?
Thanks in advance, im obviously new to this & don’t want to blow it when mixing for 5 Gal. & being out lots of money & wasting chemistry that’s become so hard to come by.