How to reconstitute Rapid Fix?

[Marco Milazzo]

I have a couple of bottles of Kodak Rapid Fix part A, and a bottle of Photographer's Formulary T-4 Rapid Fix which have "settled out." That is, there's are white "cakes" at the bottom of the bottles, with clear liquid over them. How can I reconstitute these so they're usable again? Shaking doesn't help -- the cakes at the bottom are solid.

[Daniel_Buck]

by coincidence, I have the same thing with my TF-4! One of my bottles which I've used 2/3rds of, has pieces of stuff that doesn't dissolve, I assumed it was because I had opened the bottle a while ago and not mixed up the rest of it yet. I'd love to rescue the remaining solution :-)

[Gene McCluney]

I believe this "settling out" is a form of oxidation. You cannot re-dissolve the sludge. I have this happen when I leave Rapid Fix in a deep tank for an extended period of time, and the only solution is to dump and mix up fresh. Thankfully, rapid-fix is not very expensive. This will happen with Rapid-Fix solution 'A' whether it is in concentrate form, or mixed up into working solution developer. It is decomposition, or oxidation of the chemical elements, not just a chemical coming out of solution.

[Mark Sampson]

With Rapid Fixer, and probably all ammonium-thiosulfate liquid fixers, color as well as b/w, it's called sulfurization. The sulfur has precipitated out of solution, making the fixer unusable. Once it's gone, it's not coming back. TF-4 on the other hand comes cloudy in the bottle, and has to be shaken up to mix. But if solids in the bottle won't dissolve, it's done as well.

[erie patsellis]

Mark, my understanding is filtering and addition of sodium sulfite will work.


erie

[Mark Sampson]

Erie,
perhaps you're right; I'm no chemist. But I operate on the idea that chemicals are cheap and my pictures are valuable. I'll also say that dealing with a 25-gallon RA-4 bleach-fix tank that has sulfurized, where everything; tanks, rack, rollers, gears & chains, recirc pumps, lines and filter pod, are covered in sticky, stinking yellow mud, is no fun at all. There's no question then of re-using it... one of the few benefits of leaving C-prints behind is not having to deal with that kind of thing.

[erie patsellis]

I agree Mark, even rack cleaner has a hard time with sulfur deposits. I use a W-L Pro 6, everything (except C41 Bleach) is one shot. Makes life a lot easier. I've never bothered with Blix, as Bleach is replenishable/regenerable and with aeration lasts a long long time. Since it's easily the most expensive part of C41 chemistry, reuse makes it a no-brainer. It's a bit overkill for my rate of use (50 rolls or so per month over 2 photographers) but the press the start button and walk away aspect makes it almost painless.

[Marco Milazzo]

Thanks for all responses. Guess to be safe, I'll toss the stuff and start fresh.