Aqvarium heater.

[Fredrick]

Hi.
I am wondering if it is possible to use an aqvarium heater for C41/E6 development? Would be 100x cheaper than buying a Jobo processor. My plan is to use a washing basin as a water bath. I'm sorry if this utter and complete stupidity, it just seemed logical to me. Saving money and all that :)

[Brian C. Miller]

If you get the right control for a heater, it's fine. Unfortunately, as I found out, the heater's thermostat can become wildly inaccurate over time, producing extreme temperature swings. You need to check its performance with a thermometer.

[Fredrick]

Thank you. I was thinking about buying a precise digital thermometer and a quality heater. I hope this doesn't allow for temperature swings.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

One option is to use an aquarium heater with an external controller. PID controllers and thermocouples are now quite cheap and are usually very accurate. Look around for instructions for a DYI sous vide bath (http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/) and modify to suit you needs. I have one built into a plastic cooler which cost me about $60 to build and keeps temperature at ±.2°C

[Corran]

I did this with a cheap heater from Pet's Mart, but I burned it out in like 2 weeks. I assume by the time you buy a decent heater and whatever else you need, you'd be better off finding the right tool here in the classifieds. They come up on occasion.

[Light Guru]

You can but you cannot use a cheep one.

You will need a digital heater controller like this in addition to a comparable aquarium heater.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=21333

[Fredrick]

I did this with a cheap heater from Pet's Mart, but I burned it out in like 2 weeks. I assume by the time you buy a decent heater and whatever else you need, you'd be better off finding the right tool here in the classifieds. They come up on occasion.
Perhaps, but since my income is limited I won't have the money for the right tool in the classifieds. I live in Norway and the shipping would be something like $500. I might be lucky and find something on Ebay in Europe though.

You can but you cannot use a cheep one.

You will need a digital heater controller like this in addition to a comparable aquarium heater.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=21333
Thank you. I'll look into what I can find here in Norway.

[wombat2go]

Hi Fredrick
I use this, available on Amazon for about USD$33
"Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat For Heat Mats"

It controls a tabletop electric cooker and its sensor is in the bath. The water temperature cycles by about 0.25 C around the setpoints ( 49 C for mixing and 37.8 C for processing)
I use widemouth jars with screw tops as shown to quickly dump the tank and get the solutions back in the bath.

[joselsgil]

Aquarium heaters can be used to control the temperature in a water jacket tub. It just takes a while longer to reach the set temperature.

I used to run two water heaters when I had a 100 gallon fish aquarium. Depending on how often you use them, I'm sure they can last a long time.
I never bought the cheapest, but they were usually in the $30 to $50 dollar range and would last about a year. Not bad considering that they were on 24/7.

[Fredrick]

Thank you all for your responses. I have now found an Aqvarium heater with a digital controller here in Norway and I will purchase it soon. I'll try and post some examples when I get the chromes scanned.

[Allen in Montreal]

Fredrick,

I use to process C-41 every day this way.
The key was a small aquarium pump to circulate the water in the tub holding the tanks.
Works very well once you get use to it.

Allen

[Fredrick]

Fredrick,

I use to process C-41 every day this way.
The key was a small aquarium pump to circulate the water in the tub holding the tanks.
Works very well once you get use to it.

Allen
Thank you Allen! I see that this might seem expensive in the short run, but I'll save that money on developing costs. They want 10 USD per sheet of film here in Norway, quite an expensive country this is.

[Fredrick]

Just got an e-mail from the company who supplies the heaters.

Well... They cannot holde 37 centigrades, so I guess I'll have to save up for a JOBO processor.

[Allen in Montreal]

Fredrick,

Keep your eye on E bay for a heater called a DevTek.

It was made for portable darkrooms and all the wire services and big newspapers used them back in the days of film.
They hold a steady 100 degrees and combined with a small pump, they work perfectly for C-41.

Good luck,
Allen

[WayneStevenson]

I use cheap aquarium ones in my kitchen sink. The thermostats on most can go past the setting they're rated for. Usually just a matter of removing the screw for the knob so it can be taken off once it hits the stopper, and placed back on the other side to keep turning.

Though some are more complicated and requiring breaking the seal. Which I found is basically a rubber bung. Pull on the cord, and everything comes out of the glass vial. Then you trim off a plastic stop tab with a razor or side cutters.

Recently built a PID temperature controller myself as well. Haven't gotten around to tuning it yet though with my aquarium heaters.

[Ed Bray]

Hi Fredrick,

I was given a brand new Paterson Autocolourtherm in it's box. I have no need for it, if you like I can find out how much it would cost to ship to Norway and if not too expensive you can have it for the price of shipping.

[Fredrick]

Hi Ed,

That would be great. PM me with the details. Thank you very much!

-Fredrick.

[WayneStevenson]

Actually got around to tuning my PID controller today with one of my heaters. :) Have a colour processing marathon coming up tonight.

So for those of you wanting to use aquarium heaters to temper your water / chemistry, I have come across several different types that require different methods to adjust beyond their "maximum" temperature.

These heaters are all goverened by a thermostat that prevents them from heating water past a safe temperature for your fish. Which is always around 32C.

But the thermostat is capable of going above, or when using a PID controlled thermostat, disabled altogether.

In each case, the thermostat appears to be set with a screw on the end of the heater where the cord comes in. Turn one way and a plastic rod screws in to decrease the max temperature, screw the other way and the rod is pullup in the opposite direction.

They all use some sort of plastic limiter tab that prevents the knob from turning too much either way.

Sometimes they are built into the knob. So you remove the screw from inside the knob so it can be pulled off when it can't turn any more. And brought to the lowest temperature indicator, and you do that over and over again until you can't move it any more.

Others use a pointer on the knob that hits a plastic block. You can cut the block off or the pointer so there is nothing to stop it from turning all the way around.

Two other methods had internal blocks. One required pulling up on the knob once it reached the maximum and wiggle it to get past the block.

The other required the removal of the insides to cut out the plastic block. On that particular one, the insides are not epoxied or anything. Just set into a rubber bung to seal everything. Carefull pulling on the cord and knob slowly eased the bung out.

They're in a glass tube so don't put a knife or anything in it to pry it out or you'll just end up breaking the glass. Small $10 loss as that's all these things cost on eBay. But you can often be waiting for up to a month for them to come across on the slow boat.