Ray,
Many used to use selenium toner mixed with the washing aid to eliminate a step in the processing. However, this is wasteful; the wash aid exhausts much more quickly than the selenium toner. If one wanted to keep the advantage of the wash aid, one would have to discard a lot of active toner, something I find not only wasteful, but environmentally irresponsible. There are enough heavy metals contaminating our waters and soils (not to mention our food!) already.
I use my selenium toner over and over by 1) adding more stock solution to replenish and 2) filtering out the black precipitate that forms. I have two one-gallon containers with different working dilutions that have been going strong this way for over three years. By re-using the toner, the selenium I buy goes into the prints, not the waste water. My total discarded selenium, excepting that that is washed out of toned prints, is, for practical purposes, zero.
The wash aid I use in a separate step, immediately after the toner. I find that it does not add a lot to my overall processing time since I usually tone large batches, and there are prints in the toner and the wash aid at the same time except for the very last few.
My recommendation: Save your toner and re-use it. It's cheaper as well as more environmentally friendly. Use your wash aid separately, paying attention to the capacities so you do not overuse it.
Best,
Doremus Scudder
www.DoremusScudder.com
