Plastic bottles for photo chemicals

[John Kasaian]

I need 2 of them in 16 oz size. There is currently nothing that small in my stash of scrounged whiskey, vino, and pharacutical bottles. I do have a Delta "data-tainer" but there is only one and it's a 32 ouncer :( I went to both a local camera store and also looked on line and the 16 oz Delta plastic bottles are $1.99 on line and $1.89 locally.
A wee bit steep for an empty bottle (albeit one that you can write on)
My 32 ouncer has a triangle on the bottom with a "2" inside. For the fun of it I went to Wal-mart and found 16 oz. brown plastic bottles of hydrogen peroxide and on the bottom is the same triangle with a "2" inside.
Oh yeah, and they cost .69 cents each.
I figuring that I can make my own labels for far less than $1.30!:D
Aside from having to find a use for 32 ounces of hydrogen peroxide, is there any reason why these wouldn't work?

[Louie Powell]

"Aside from having to find a use for 32 ounces of hydrogen peroxide, is there any reason why these wouldn't work?"

Nope - and because they contain hydrogen peroxide, they are very easy to wash out - just rinse in water.

[Eric Woodbury]

No reason. Store hydrogen peroxide is only a few percent. The rest is water.

You might be able to get something at the recycle center for 5 cents. There are some nice fruit juice bottles out there, too, but the juice is expensive compared to H2O2.

[Bill Kumpf]

Bruce Barlow, in his Fine Focus workshop, recommends Coke bottles. I have used the 16 and 20 sizes now for paper developer for over a year and they work fine.

Check pass posts by Burce for information.

[Nathan Potter]

$.69 with the H202 inside!? That would be very cheap. What kind of plastic is it and is the wall very thin? I don't like plastic but that's just an unfounded fear. I kind of thought that if the wall is very thin some developers will oxidize more quickly. I'm also not sure about dissolution of the plastisizer solvent into the darkroom chemistry - especially in the case of PVC and vinyl chloride. OTOH I have used Nalgene polyethylene wide mouth bottles with nasty Ilfochrome chemistry with apparently no ill effect. Maybe I'm just too paranoid.

What do others think?

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[erie patsellis]

Well to each his own, I prefer 1 liter flavored carbonated drinking water bottles (2/$1 at wally world), not only do I consume the contents, but I also get 1L bottles for free...

[CG]

If you are going to store developer, I have read it is best to use PET (polyethylene terephthalate). It evidently has low permeability to oxygen. You should be able to identify it by a "1" in the triangle on the bottom. I have seen PET mineral/vitamin water bottles with a largish cap that I have started saving for my darkroom.

PET or HDPE are said to work well with most other darkroom chemicals. HDPE has a "2" in the triangle.

Best,

C

[Jim Ewins]

If you just want storage use a plastic water or soda pop bottle. If shelf life is important use a brown glass bottle filled to the top.

[Hector.Navarro]

I have used PET water bottles for developer without problems and there is a plus: you can squeeze them out of air!
BTW: I stored the bottles inside a container to keep them out of the light.

[jwaddison]

I notice that one of my Ilford paper developer plastic bottles is HDPE and a number 2 in the triangle, as are the plastic bottles I got from Photographers Formulary which contained parts A and B of Pyrocat HD. So these bottles should be safe to store say, ID-11 (question)

[Bruce Barlow]

I had Ansco 130 in a plastic liter Coke bottle for three years. When I finally got around to using it, it was fine. I've had Dektol in 16 oz. Coke bottles for two years, and it was fine when I used it.

Previous comments about needing glass for long-term storage are inaccurate. Fill them us until there's no air, and screw on the cap.

[jwaddison]

I had Ansco 130 in a plastic liter Coke bottle for three years. When I finally got around to using it, it was fine. I've had Dektol in 16 oz. Coke bottles for two years, and it was fine when I used it.

Previous comments about needing glass for long-term storage are inaccurate. Fill them us until there's no air, and screw on the cap.

Since I purchased your DVD/book (which I like very much) I will follow your advice - besides, there seems to be a shortage of amber glass bottles in my particular end of the forest. :)

[Pat Kearns]

Call your local pharmacist and ask how much a 16oz cough syrup bottle will be. These are usually brown in color and have safety caps. They used to be glass but now are plastic. I've used them for years with HC-110, and I think they were less than 50 cents.

[Paul Kierstead]

Previous comments about needing glass for long-term storage are inaccurate.

I would presume that they have to be gas impermeable, though (which soda bottles would be).

I bought a case of small mason jars, under $10. Each one holds pretty much the exact amount for one "run" in my Jobo, so it is great.

[Drew Wiley]

A good lab supply catalog will list the characteristics of each material. Often we use
developers with a lot of sodium sulfite which tend to oxidize slowly. But for critical work
I would never, ever dream of using anything but amber glass bottles. In fact, I gave up
on plastic bottles a long time ago except for stop bath and fixer, and have had very
good reasons for doing so. Just try making color separation negatives or precision masks for color work, and you will indeed recognize the distinction!

[Gem Singer]

The problem with using glass containers for darkroom chemicals is that they tend to shatter, and the contents will splatter when dropped on a hard floor.

As a student, many years ago, a glass bottle of glacial acetic acid accidentally slipped out of my hand. I'll never forget the mess it made when it hit the hard tiled floor. Luckily, eyeglasses protected my eyes from the splatter. It took months to get rid of the acrid odor that permeated the entire building.

I learned my lesson the hard way. No glass containers in my darkroom!

[Drew Wiley]

Acids are one of those things which store well in polyethylene. Obviously. safety is always a primary concern.

[John Kasaian]

Back (waaaaay back) in high school me and my pal Harry Chin got to work as lab asistants for the chemistry teacher. I remember row upon row of amber glass jars with ground glass stoppers, each embossed with the names of different reagents---cool! I wonder what happened to them? Anyway I prefer amber glass jugs---perhaps plastic ones are just as good---I don't really know for sure but I also use plastic bottles for chemicals where it seems appropriate (I have quite a collection of amber jugs with bakelite screwtops---I shoot a lot of 8x10 and chemicals are nearly always mixed in gallon size batches---most of these jugs formerly contained Robatussen and were generously given to me by a compounding pharmacist)

The 16 ouncers I needed are for the two parts for Farmer's Reducer.

The 32 ouncer plastic bottle I had wasn't a Delta but a Kalt--my mistake! It is now containing 32 oz. of Hydrogen peroxide from the two 16 ouncers I got at Wal Mart.

Just in case anyone wanted an update ;)

[robert amsden]

Glass bottles are far better than plastic. Yoo can get used brown bottles up to gallon jugs at your local drug store. And you can look for beer in quart brown bottles, you need to find plastic caps that will fit because metal ones will corrode.

[CG]

... The problem with using glass containers for darkroom chemicals is that they tend to shatter ...

There are always safety coated glass bottles:
www.labsafety.com/store/Lab_Supplies_and_Equipment/Plasticware_-_Glassware/Glass_Bottles_and_Caps/35616/28787/
If you must handle nasty stuff, a plastic coated glass bottle reduces the breakage issue.

C

[Bruce Barlow]

Glass bottles are far better than plastic. Yoo can get used brown bottles up to gallon jugs at your local drug store. And you can look for beer in quart brown bottles, you need to find plastic caps that will fit because metal ones will corrode.

Sorry, they might be, but plastic is way good enough, no worries about rusting caps, and I've never quite understood why I need brown bottles to keep light out of chemicals that I store in drawers in a darkroom that's, well, dark... Feels like unnecessary expense.

I do like the beer bottle idea, as long as I'm designated to empty them.

[shmoo]

You might try I.B.C. root beer bottles...or any of their soda bottles...they're brown glass. Then I just buy a wine stopper for the top. Cheap and the root beer's great!

;)

[John Kasaian]

You might try I.B.C. root beer bottles...or any of their soda bottles...they're brown glass. Then I just buy a wine stopper for the top. Cheap and the root beer's great!

;)

Hill and Hill ain't too shabby! :D

[Bruce Barlow]

Glass of any color is dangerous when combined with a clumsy oaf and a lot of even safelighted darkness. Coke bottles bounce.

[nolindan]

After decades of scrounged bottles I now use narrow-mouth Nalgene - they just seem to work better: the tops spin down nicely, labels come off cleanly, they seem less slippery when wet. They are thick LDPE, not as impermeable as others but seem to keep developer OK for years (if it is made up from boiled distilled water, gently stirred and not shaken).

I buy them on ebay. I wait for salvage case lots to come up for cheap. I've paid as little as $10 or so for a case of 24 1 liter (+ probably $15 shipping). I also bought a case of 60 boxes of Kim Wipes - fell of a truck, corner dented - for small change. There is a lot of junk available from the salvage companies that will find use in the darkroom.

[c-mo]

You might try I.B.C. root beer bottles...or any of their soda bottles...they're brown glass. Then I just buy a wine stopper for the top. Cheap and the root beer's great!

;)

Whole Foods sells Virgil's Root Beer in 500ml brown glass bottles with a stopper and clasp like an old mason jar. Seals tight enough to keep the CO2 in. Granted, they're $5 each, but it's really good root beer (burp!) :p

I also buy their store brand mineral water... $1.39 gets you a 1L glass bottle, and it's better for you than the root beer.

[shmoo]

Whole Foods sells Virgil's Root Beer in 500ml brown glass bottles with a stopper and clasp like an old mason jar. Seals tight enough to keep the CO2 in. Granted, they're $5 each, but it's really good root beer (burp!) :p

I also buy their store brand mineral water... $1.39 gets you a 1L glass bottle, and it's better for you than the root beer.

I'm a root beer junkie...so I'll look for Virgil's. The downside is that it's a lot of sugar, so I usually drink the IBC diet root beer...really tasty for a diet drink!

...has this become a root beer thread?