Strange spots on negatives

[timor]

Timor,

Seriously, in my case it was gung in the tap water. And it is a pretty common occurence. Infrastructure and water quality varies dramatically from one location to another. Search for some recent posts about water quality. You'll find some amazing posts out there
In my case, my son did a science project analyzing our water supply for particular matter. It was a real eye-opener. That is when I bought a water filter a and a temp regulator. No more spots on my films. Or at least way less than before. I still get occasional spots when I coat my own emulsion and forget to use distilled water for soaking paper.

Eugene.

P.S. I also use tap water for mixing chemicals/washes, etc. I just use filtered tap water.

Looks like I am lucky so far. Toronto has not bad water supply for now (but the system is aging), however little deeper inside Ontario things are not so good. Well, good, that your problem was solved, the lesson for us is to remember about quality of the water we use for (critical) processes. Maybe portable Brita filter system should become a permanent item in my darkroom.

 

[mklw1954]

Do not use chemicals made from solids for 24 hours, to make sure everything is completely dissolved.

Also, filter all chemicals before each use with coffee filters. That eliminated the minor number of spots I used to get (that resulted in a few white spots on prints).

 

[Boris011]

I just want to thank you all for helping me, it was a water problem. I was on the wrong track, I thought that I had a problem with the fixer, because of those little white crystals on the emulsion side of negative.
I switched to demineralized water throughout the whole process and ilford rinsing method instead of running water from tap.
You saved me a lot of time and effort!
Thanks again.

 

[Jaf-Photo]

Excellent, problem solved! (When in doubt, check the water