Slight contamination of bleach in fixer, can it still be used?

[typicalaussiebloke]

G'day all.

I've recently shot and developed a 60s colour film using the colour developer from my C-41 kit and then chrome alum hardener and ferricyanide bleach and then Ilford Rapid Fixer as I've been getting better looking results than that of blixing. Whilst I got what I call good results, I was rather shocked to see the fixer turning from standard slight yellow to a cyan colour after pouring it back into the bottle which I think maybe traces of the ferricyanide bleach got in there. Prior to fixing I gave the tank with the film a good 5 min wash with the hose as the yellow ferricyanide bleach was prominant even after a couple of minutes of washing and pouring out, but after the water went clear and a couple more minutes I thought it was safe to fix it. Anyhow the fixer is now a light cyan colour, I guess there's trace amount of bleach in it, so is it now no good for re-use or can it be still be re-used despite slight contamination seeing that a lot films can be blixed anyways?

 

[Photo Engineer]

At this point with the fixer blue, it is pretty much shot. That color is ferrocyanide, formed when ferricyanide reacts with hypo.

Wash longer and use a Sodium Sulfite clearing bath between bleach and fix. Like this, bleach, clear, wash 8', fix, wash, stab. (Formalin stab or the dyes will degrade.

PE

 

[snapguy]

Slight of hand

Slight contamination, huh? Is that like being slightly dead? If you care about the images you will not use anything you even think might be contaminated.

 

[typicalaussiebloke]

Thanks for the info, shame about that as I only recently mixed it but good thing I have recently acquired another big bottle of fixer from someone clearing out his darkroom stock. Anyways I happen to have a potassium metabisulphite clearing bath mixed 25g to 1L of water, would that work just the same as a sodium sulphite clearing bath?

 

[typicalaussiebloke]

Slight contamination, huh? Is that like being slightly dead? If you care about the images you will not use anything you even think might be contaminated.

Well that's why I though I'd asked in this forum this question before using or chucking it, and I thought because there's blix which is bleach and fixer mixed together perhaps it would work okay together for colour film. I admit I'm an amateur and not had years of experience and fully know and learned only so much of the art of developing film via the net there's a lot I don't know about developing film so I ask these questions. Anyways the fixer is gonna be disposed of.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Thanks for the info, shame about that as I only recently mixed it but good thing I have recently acquired another big bottle of fixer from someone clearing out his darkroom stock. Anyways I happen to have a potassium metabisulphite clearing bath mixed 25g to 1L of water, would that work just the same as a sodium sulphite clearing bath?

This sulfite bath should work. And I thought that the question was quite reasonable!

PE

 

[snapguy]

take a dive

One of the things I did in my misspent (but fun) youth was to skydive (prior to 1960). By law in my country if you make an intentional jump you have to have a second parachute, packed by a guy with a license to pack parachutes. If somebody said "well, I think, maybe, perhaps that one was packed okay" I never jumped that chute. And I am still here. I am funny that way I guess. Your experiences at home may vary.

 

[Photo Engineer]

But before you learned that you didn't "know" that and the same is true with chemistry. Having lived through explosive decompression in a military plane, and having to save a person sucked partway out of a defective escape window I know how scary it can be. When we regained our senses we each checked the packing slip in the 'chutes. We had just ignored the rules, after all this was a military cargo plane. Well, turns out someone was short a 'chute and the guy hanging out the window had one packed in the '40s. Believe it! I was there to read the tag.

I've been certified to 100,000 ft for all sorts of things and one thing I did was check my equipment, but if it was "NEW TO ME" I read up on the operating rules or went to someone or someplace for help. We have such a case here and it is quite reasonable to ask such a question when you do not know chemistry.

 

[Athiril]

But before you learned that you didn't "know" that and the same is true with chemistry. Having lived through explosive decompression in a military plane, and having to save a person sucked partway out of a defective escape window I know how scary it can be. When we regained our senses we each checked the packing slip in the 'chutes. We had just ignored the rules, after all this was a military cargo plane. Well, turns out someone was short a 'chute and the guy hanging out the window had one packed in the '40s. Believe it! I was there to read the tag.

I've been certified to 100,000 ft for all sorts of things and one thing I did was check my equipment, but if it was "NEW TO ME" I read up on the operating rules or went to someone or someplace for help. We have such a case here and it is quite reasonable to ask such a question when you do not know chemistry.

I demand a documentary about your life story.

 

[snapguy]

got

And he got an answer.

 

[Athiril]

One of the things I did in my misspent (but fun) youth was to skydive (prior to 1960). By law in my country if you make an intentional jump you have to have a second parachute, packed by a guy with a license to pack parachutes. If somebody said "well, I think, maybe, perhaps that one was packed okay" I never jumped that chute. And I am still here. I am funny that way I guess. Your experiences at home may vary.

Once when I first started processing film, at the end of a roll, I decided to see what would happen if I poured in laundry bleach. Somehow I wasn't crushed by sudden deceleration of gravitational forces and am still here. I guess I got lucky.

 

[Photo Engineer]

But I'll bet your film was not as lucky!!!!