UK people - what do you store your chemicals in?

walliswizard · Aug 11, 2016

It seems in the USA there must be a vast stockpile of those special chemical bottles used to store developing chemicals in. Over here, I can't find 'em anywhere, at least not at a reasonable price.

What do you store your chemicals in? Fizzy-drink bottles are what I'm currently using, not perfect by any means, though I try to squeeze the air out as best I can. Those concertina bottles seem pretty useless, at least the one I own is. Squeeze it down, do the top up tight, wait a while and low and behold it's un-concertina'd itself!

Any recommendations?

R.Gould · Aug 11, 2016

I use brown storage bottles that I bought from Firstcall Photographic, still available from them in 1 litre size firstcall-photographic.co.uk

M Carter · Aug 11, 2016

I'm in the US, but some of my chemistry bottles are:

Windshield wiper fluid jug (silly me, lately it's full of copper bleach, which looks exactly like blue windshield fluid...) those are tough, thick jugs though;

Empty drain cleaner bottles (we still have some 80-year old iron drain pipes in my house); those jugs are KEEPERS, they're tough and designed to pour without splashing;

Hydrogen peroxide bottles, since they look the same as photo-centric bottles.

Basically, if there's a jug or bottle that came with something mildly caustic in it, I save those. I once put Dektol concentrate in a plastic milk jug. You should see the stain on the linoleum floor after it ate through that thin plastic. I keep bottles in all kinds of sizes, you never know when you want to come back to something the next day.

I've got four or five of the giant cat-litter jugs for an upcoming huge-prints project, haven't tried them yet though. (My stupid old-lady cat is obsessed with drinking from the sinks and bathtubs. Her litter box looks like the surface of the moon. Man, we go through some cat litter...)

Ian Grant · Aug 11, 2016

Over the years I saved my Rodinal bottles and various Ilford developer bottle as well as PhotoTechnology etc. It's important to use high density plastic bottles. I guess I've been using some bottles for over 30 years.

Ian

Ricardo Miranda · Aug 11, 2016

I use white square bottles from Process Supplies (London).

Peltigera · Aug 11, 2016

I use i litre polythene bottles I bought from AG Photographic some time ago.

Using drinks bottles is not a good idea, even if you have removed the labels and added your own. You might think no child is ever going to go near them but things happen without our planning them.

Sim2 · Aug 11, 2016

walliswizard said:
It seems in the USA there must be a vast stockpile of those special chemical bottles used to store developing chemicals in. Over here, I can't find 'em anywhere, at least not at a reasonable price.

walliswizard, hi there. Not sure if you're on the lookout but I have a number of used concertina bottles and fixed size bottles that I no longer need. Haven't sorted out sizes or quantities yet but if you're interested... do drop me a message! Failing that, glass jars for cooking/storing jams etc could be useful (?).

AlanC · Aug 12, 2016

Waliswizard - I take it you must be a coarse fisherman who uses split cane rods - I too use fizzy drinks bottles , for ID11. It is easy to squeeze the air out of them. I do keep them in a walk-in cupboard, which is usually dark. Have done this for years and had no problems keeping ID11, or D76, for up to 6 to 9 months in unopened bottles.
I use 500ml bottles.

Alan

walliswizard · Aug 12, 2016

Guilty as charged, Alan. I have an old Wizard (well, sort of). Lovely old rod!

I'm not happy with the concertina bottles, at least not the one I've got. That particular one is rubbish, bin-fodder!

The brown storage bottles from Firstcall were what I'm after. Postage seems steep, but I might bite the bullet on a few of them at some point.

http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/delta-chemical-storage-bottle-datatainer-900ml/p6464

Otherwise, I guess I'll stick to fizzy bottles for now, and spare Ilford bottles. I probably stress out on this sort of thing a bit too much? #OCD

Cheers all.

benjiboy · Aug 12, 2016

walliswizard said:
It seems in the USA there must be a vast stockpile of those special chemical bottles used to store developing chemicals in. Over here, I can't find 'em anywhere, at least not at a reasonable price.

What do you store your chemicals in? Fizzy-drink bottles are what I'm currently using, not perfect by any means, though I try to squeeze the air out as best I can. Those concertina bottles seem pretty useless, at least the one I own is. Squeeze it down, do the top up tight, wait a while and low and behold it's un-concertina'd itself!

Any recommendations?

It depends on what you consider " a reasonable price" but here's some suitable bottles http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/proce...rce=google_shopping_feed&gclid=Cj0KEQjw57W9BR

pdeeh · Aug 12, 2016

Nigel farage stores his in his luxuriant new moustache ...

Steve906 · Aug 12, 2016

I use plastic milk bottles, available in many sizes, I split across multiple 500ml ones so they can be filled to the top. Lids are good on most too. HDPE or PEHD molded on the bottom, I think this gets a pretty good rating for most photo chemicals. I've used for colour and b&w for years with no problems.

Steve.

Toyo · Aug 13, 2016

Not sure if these are available outside Australia, but I use old wine casks for my darkroom chemistry.
These have the advantage of tap dispensing - as well as collapsing as the chemistry is used, without allowing air into the chemical container.
Of course one has to drink the contents first
T

MattKing · Aug 14, 2016

That looks like it has the mylar type bag in it - which is good, as they are quite impermeable to oxygen.
Around here they have mostly switched to a clear plastic that isn't particularly oxygen impermeable.

Toyo · Aug 14, 2016

MattKing said:
That looks like it has the mylar type bag in it - which is good, as they are quite impermeable to oxygen.
Around here they have mostly switched to a clear plastic that isn't particularly oxygen impermeable.

All the Australian cask wines that I have seen (drunk) - have the mylar type bags inside. These have the added bonus of also being light tight for any chemistry that might be light sensitive - (if there are such ) The biggest plus is the oxygen barrier of course, and after the wine has gone the casks are free - yay!
T

BMbikerider · Aug 14, 2016

Brown glass bottles in 50cc, 100cc 150cc 500cc plus the occasional 600cc empty screwtop wine bottles. I don't buy them from a photo dealer, but if you look on the web there are a number of companies in UK who normally sell them to pharmacutical companies, but will sell them to the public. They are a load cheaper than those sold by Firstcall.

The 150cc ones are very useful because that is exact the size needed for 1 x 35mm C41 film in a Jobo processor.

Plastic of almost any variety will permeate oxygen over time which will speed up chemical decomposition.

Andrew Kleinfeld · Aug 14, 2016

16 oz glass bottles for home brew beer, with the rubber stoppers. 5 liters of Xtol in 10 bottles, all but the last filled to the stopper.

Anyone try 1 gallon plastic gasoline jugs?

klownshed · Aug 14, 2016

If you google "Amber glass sirop bottle" you can find suppliers of the type of bottle I use online.

For example (link chosen at random)

http://www.ampulla.co.uk/Amber-Glas...-28mm-White-Red-Band-TE-Screw-Cap/p-196-2144/

I also got a few bottles from a local chemists.

pdeeh · Aug 14, 2016

klownshed said:
I also got a few bottles from a local chemists.

I've seen other people say that, but every time I try, the pharmacist looks at me as if I might be having some sort of psychotic episode.

blockend · Aug 14, 2016

C41 chemicals last longer since I began using concertina bottles. For 5 ltr of chemicals I found in cheaper to use Lidl bleach than buy empty containers! About 87p or thereabouts.

John51 · Aug 14, 2016

Spirits are sold in glass bottles ranging in size from miniature to 1 litre. Shouldn't matter if it's clear glass as long as they're stored in a cupboard.

BMbikerider · Aug 15, 2016

To give an example of how well glass stores chemicals, I used to buy 5 litre cannisters of Ilford Multigrade developerand decant it out into 500cc brown glass bottles. One of these would then be split down into 100cc bottles which is ideal for a nights work with B&W. The 5 litres would last me perhaps 12 -18 months and the last drop was as good and clear as when it was !st opened.

I don't do so much B&W as I used to so buy smaller quantities, most of my work is C41 film developing and RA4 colour printing but this works just as well with those as it used to do with B&W. I have also found that if you buy a decent size C41 kit and dilute the whole kit this will last longer this way than diluting enough developer at a time for processing one film.

I am wondering if this will also work with E6 slide processing too, I still prefer the projected slide than any other projected image. saturation, sharpness and overall quality has never been surpassed.

chromacomaphoto · Aug 15, 2016

Four old 'Baileys' bottles at the moment, just the right size and a nice dark brown tinted kind of glass.

Fast · Aug 15, 2016

I use these
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/platypus/bottles-and-storage/category
The two liter ones are handy. In Canada they're available in camping/outdoor sport stores.

chromacomaphoto · Oct 5, 2016

A cleaned out bottle of Bailey's, it's a great size and is dark brown glass with a screw on metal cap. Easily sourced, also has the benefit of coming full of Baileys that 'just has to be drunk first' ....good for the mrs and just perfect for me. Ooops, just saw that I replied twice to this! I guess I still like shooting film and Baileys!

UK people - what do you store your chemicals in?

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