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Old 9th May 2020, 05:29 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Default White suspension in a new bottle of Hypam

HI guys

I have just opened a brand new and recently purchased 5L bottle of Hypam.

As I decanted the first 4L of the fixer all was well and good.

However, the last litre (from the bottom of the bottle) had a white something suspended in it.

Not wanting to get the white something anywhere near my prints and negatives, I ran it through a Paterson in-line water filter (mesh size 20 microns)

Very slowly, the fixer drained through and I was left with a white suspension on my filter - the best way of describing it would be like a very dilute white clay slip - for those who are familiar with clay slips.

Out of curiosity - does anyone have any idea as to what the white suspension might have been ?

Thanks

Martin
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Old 9th May 2020, 06:22 PM
Alan Clark Alan Clark is offline
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Martin,
I can't answer your question as to what the white suspension is, but I have also had it myself in a 5 litre bottle of Hypam. It caused me no end of bother because the bottle is not clear glass so I couldn't see it. I was getting spots on my negatives caused by solid particles. I suspected my tap water, so switched to de-ionised water to dilute the developer and fixer, and to wash the film. I still got spots. I only discovered the culprit when most of the fixer was used up and I poured the dregs out and discovered the precipitate in the bottom of the bottle.
My solution was to switch to Fotospeed FX30 fixer. My spots disappeared! I pour it into clear plastic bottles for storage, where the quality of the solution can be seen. I have been using FX30 for several years now, with no problems


Alan
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Old 9th May 2020, 07:46 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Worth contacting Ilford?

Mike
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Old 10th May 2020, 07:38 AM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Hi Martin,
I Stopped using Hypam a while ago for much rha same reason , I kept getting spots on my negatives , It started with buying a 5 liter bottle of Hypam, and I always kept my fixer in the 5 liter bottle, just de canting 1 liter at a time, but into opaque bottles, when I got to the bottom of the bottle I, for some reaaon, dexanted the laet liter into a clear plastic bottle, and it was thick with this white something, I switched to Champion Amfix and it never happened again, and Amfix in 5 liter is cheaper, and I have not had this problem again, in a good few years now
Richard
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Old 10th May 2020, 09:35 AM
MikeHeller MikeHeller is offline
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I had problems with white precipitate in ilford fixer which was the subject of a thread some time back.

http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...=fixer+keeping

I thought it was something to do with ageing of the fixer, possibly oxygenation. It was associated with black deposit in my toaster (Nova Slot Processor). I do not think it was Hypam. (NB I have never been able to really understand the difference between their Hypam and Rapid Fixer). I do not remember it being associated with clear spots on film.

Mike
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Old 10th May 2020, 05:35 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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For some years now I have been filtering all my film developing solutions before using them.

I started doing this when I had an old bottle of fixer which seemed to have a few somethings(?) floating in it and have done so for all the chemicals ever since.

In addition, if I am doing a batch of film development, I filter the chemicals again between the tanks of film.

I am amazed how much stuff there can be (it looks like clothing fibres - possible discard from the teat towels I use to dry everything)

When I first started photography at University many years ago, I used to have to filter the tap water, as we always seemed to have quite a lot of sand come through in the flowing water - scratching your negatives as you wiped off the excess water was always a problem.

I've often wondered if all this filtering I do is a bit OTT but I always have lovely clean scratch free negs for my efforts.

Martin
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Old 10th May 2020, 09:04 PM
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I had this with my last 5L bottle of Hypam. The last litre or so had a lot of white particles in the solution. I put it down to age, threw it out and bought a new batch quite recently. Maybe there is a problem with Hypam?
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Old 11th May 2020, 08:04 AM
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You get the same problem with PMK Pyro it could be the settling out of the chemical and all it requires is a good shake before use. Something I used to do before using the developer. As far as I'm aware it had no affect on the films I processed.


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Old 13th May 2020, 03:50 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry View Post
I had this with my last 5L bottle of Hypam. The last litre or so had a lot of white particles in the solution. I put it down to age, threw it out and bought a new batch quite recently. Maybe there is a problem with Hypam?
May be Barry ?

I cannot remember it being a problem with previous bottles - so may be it is a recent change of chemistry - or batch or batch variation ????

Who knows.

The Paterson filter I used seemed to get all the white suspension - so fairly easy to fix.

Martin
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Old 13th May 2020, 04:43 PM
Michael Michael is offline
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From the Hypam data sheet: "Full, unopened bottles of HYPAM concentrate stored in cool conditions, 5–20ºC (41–68ºF), will keep for two years. Once opened use completely within six months and keep all bottles tightly sealed until used".

Apart from issues of supplier's length of storage or temperature stored, I'd find 5 litres of concentrate hard to get through in six months.
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