Likewise I have had no problem with growth in citric acid stop bath. Here is a quick pic of a batch I made at least 12 months ago.
A lifetime's worth of stop made from bulk citric acid powder will cost less than the bottle used to store it between sessions. I don't see the economy. I use less than 1 cent of citric acid per printing session.Stop bath is reusable, I store and use stop bath until the indicator starts to turn purple, like the instruction manual explains. Just RTFM and you will find that you can indeed reuse and store stop bath. If you screw the top on the bottle you will not smell the stop bath. Just keep one batch for film and another for prints.
The idea of storing used stop bath just boggles my mind! I'd never heard of such a thing before today.
I switched from acetic to citric acid stops for all my work because I HATE the smell of acetic acid. They work just fine and the powder is so cheap there's no hardship throwing it out at the end of a printing session or once a tank of film has been processed.
citric acid works just fine.Is there such thing as a difference in quality? I wanted to try out the citric acid based and wondered how good it actually works. Thanks.
That's what I use for stop bath. It's odorless and cheap.15g of citric acid/l of water makes a good stop bath; no indicator required; just renew frequently.
Nope. That's what I use. I use it for cleaning things (it's environmentally safe and is safe for cleaning up around animals) and making pickles as well. It's also great for removing battery acid from old electronics that had leaky batteries. Mix it with baking soda, and you've got a super powerful cleaner (and drain clog remover), and a fun science experiment for the kids. In the darkroom, I use it as a stop bath and a contrast booster for cyanotypes. I don't even use an indicator, I just use fresh and pour the whole stop bath out and make another tray full if I'm going to be doing a lot of prints. It's cheap. It serves multiple uses, and I'm going to own it anyway, so it takes up zero space.Am I the only one who uses diluted vinegar as a stop bath???
No. 1.5 vinegar to 1 water and it lasts a long time. Easy to get and very inexpensive. I use it in tanks and in trays.Am I the only one who uses diluted vinegar as a stop bath???
I have used it - out of necessity.Am I the only one who uses diluted vinegar as a stop bath???
That's what I use for stop bath. It's odorless and cheap.
No. 1.5 vinegar to 1 water and it lasts a long time. Easy to get and very inexpensive. I use it in tanks and in trays.
Love the smell of vinegar in the morning.
That's what I use for stop bath. It's odorless and cheap.
do you get slime, or only use it once? Am I the only one who stores it without slime?
Edit: Oh, I just saw Barry's post above so I'm not alone.
But you are using commercial SB, which some people think has a biocide. I'm not sure if it does though.In over six decades I have never had a problem with slime in stop bath.
me neitherIn over six decades I have never had a problem with slime in stop bath.
But you are using commercial SB, which some people think has a biocide. I'm not sure if it does though.
If there is no biocide, how to explain the lack of bacteria? .
What bacteria? Only certain people are having problems with slime. I don't know what the problems is in their cases but not everyone using plain citric acid stop has that problem. Clearly then, lack of noticeable growth is not proof of the presence of a biocide. However, absence of any growth in anyone's commercial SB would be strongly suggestive of one.
Back in my research lab the one reagent we could never reliable keep from growing crap was Ca acetate. I believe one of problems was that even high purity ca acetate carried microbial impurities in the solid product.calcium acetate
Golly, Wayne, some people smoke for decades and never get lung cancer, so using your logic we should all start smoking. Did you know that it is possible to jump off a 50 story building and not die? Should we put that on our bucket lists too?
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