Topic: Why is my fixer so cloudy and what is floating in it??

[original_ann]

I am so glad that I re-read this post about cloudy fixer.  http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=3788.0

I was about to develop some film last night and was shocked when I poured the fixer.  It was so cloudy, almost opaque, and had a bizarre suspension.  Even as I was pouring it back in the bottle so that I could have a chance to research, the last few drops at the bottom of my beaker were as opaque as milk. 

So confusing because I'd never encountered this before and I'd just mixed it in August, using it once or twice.  I'll try testing it and then assessing whether I need to dump and buy more. 

Anyone else experience this?

[Francois]

If it had been overworked, I would have said it's silver floating in it...
It could be just the thiosulfate going out of solution because of the lower temperatures... but I really don't know.

If it clears the film with a drop test, it should be OK.

I had the reverse problem recently. Some really overworked fixer started making a molasses colored residue at the bottom of a jug. Since it failed the drop test a long time ago, I figured it could have been algae growing in there since I mix my fixer from tap water (the same stuff grows in the sinks and toilets in the neighborhood)

[Alan]

hmm I have a charcoal coloured "stuff" growing on the
bottom of my 5L bottles of spent fixer
would that be SILVER of organic growth i wonder?

[astrobeck]

not so much cloudy fixer, but weird globs of "stuff" in it.   

I finally figured out it was parts of the cap liner had come off and fallen into the bottle.  The little tab/liner inside the bottle cap is made of coated paper and had partially dissolved and was mixed in the bottle.  I'm not really sure how this happened, but I always look inside the cap to see what's going on with it now.

Probably not a help at all, but thought I would mention it just in case.
 

[Francois]

Just filter it through a cotton ball or makeup pad and keep on using it.
They happen to work very well in a funnel.

[jojonas~]

Just filter it through a cotton ball or makeup pad and keep on using it.
They happen to work very well in a funnel.

and I use coffee filters in my funnels

I don't know much about milky/fogy fixer but I think a good rinse in water with the paper or film makes it less contaminated and lets it last longer.

Aah, I actually recently changed fixer and I kind of miss the old one with the silver chunks
I'd filter them out time to time but pouring slowly made them stay in the bottle too.

[original_ann]

Thanks everyone!  Interesting, Becky - I will have to look and see if that could have happened with the cap liner.  I'm going to get a chance to test the fixer (and hopefully develop) later tonight.  Fingers crossed!  I shall report back. 

[choppert]

Well, bless my socks!

I had exactly the same thing happen to me last week, though it was my concentrate that had the suspension in it. I'd thought that maybe the paper in the lid had something to do with it?

I poured it through a coffee filter paper and all seems fine now.  The residue looks more of a crystal than papery???

Fotospeed fixer.

Chops